#i just find it really strange that Rita is afraid of the dark. not saying they /can't/ be and maybe i'm a little unfair to deem it childish

[mofffun]

Actually, Rita is afraid of the dark. They don't want Gira and the team to know, so they hid their left eye with King's Hotline and departed in an awkward walk towards the Underground Empire Bugnarok. While suggesting they turn back, Jeramie noticed. Rita screamed, but they still fulfill their duty as a witness until the end.

(tv asahi ep26 guide)

[blue-mood-blue]

No one asked about the eye.

It wasn't something Peter Nureyev even noticed that he'd noticed, just another unnecessary piece of information filed away in the back of his mind for use later if he needed it. He was doing his best to stay out of Juno Steel's way, after all, ensuring that they weren't stuck in a room together alone and forced to make stilted, polite conversation; he rarely had reason to spare extra energy in observing the way the rest of their strange band interacted with Juno.

When he caught a glance at Juno rubbing his eye one morning under the patch, shuffling past where Peter was seated at the table and nodding along to whatever tangent Rita was prattling away about behind him while obviously retaining nothing, the thought occurred to Peter again: no one ever asked Juno about his eye. It went mostly unremarked upon entirely, even when "family dinner" devolved into "taking cheap shots at each other."

Like as not it was just good manners, Peter decided as he shifted his attention back to the tablet in his hand. It would be in poor taste to pepper someone with questions about a serious, visible injury, and if Juno didn't bring it up it hardly fell to any of the rest of them to bring it up for him. And Juno had been without an eye for some time - if he wanted a cybernetic alternative, he could have gotten one long before now. He could have listed it with his other requirements for working with Buddy's crew, even. That was his own business.

No one said anything about the eye - asked any questions, voiced any concerns, made any offers - and Peter put it out of his head. Peter put it out of his head when Juno forgot his patch and still seemed surprised to find an empty socket, when Juno’s depth perception still suffered despite the time he'd had to get used to it, when Juno took emptied cans from a meal and lined them up outside whenever they were somewhere with enough gravity to make it worth his while and practiced his shooting.

Juno went wide every time. And every time, Peter remembered his precise shooting from before, and felt a pang in his chest.

"He isn't getting any better." Peter wasn't sure why he spoke up, and to Jet, who seemed absorbed with whatever he was doing to the Carte Blanche while Peter idly watched Juno practice. He hadn’t meant to say anything, it was the kind of pointless sentiment that was best left in Peter’s head if it had to be anywhere at all, and it was a small mercy that he’d said so softly enough that Jet had plenty of room to pretend he hadn’t heard.

"He is not," Jet replied.

Should have kept his mouth shut, Peter thought, while continuing to not keep his mouth shut. "It's concerning that he hasn't improved by now, considering when he lost the eye. He might never get that sharpshooting back."

"He might not," Jet agreed.

"He could consider getting it replaced - the technology exists." Just because it would make their work easier, Peter justified to himself. The only reason he cared about Juno Steel's sharpshooting was because it might be necessary to save their lives at some point. Otherwise, he would leave well enough alone.

There was no reply from Jet, and Peter assumed the man had finally decided that the conversation wasn't worth continuing. He was surprised, then, when he looked up and found Jet regarding him seriously, that steady gaze unwavering.

"I do not think Juno would want such a thing. I would advise you not to mention it to him." Before Peter had the chance to ask what he meant, to figure out how Jet could have come to that leap of a conclusion when he barely knew Juno and certainly hadn't been there when he'd lost the eye, Jet stood up, collected his tools, and went back inside.

Peter watched another wide shot, lost in thoughts that didn't get him anywhere.

~~~

It was late, and the Carte Blanche was quiet, and Peter didn't know why he was awake.

It might have been that the bed felt too empty; a startlingly vulnerable conclusion, since Juno didn't spend every night there even after their conversation, but there was no point denying the possibility. More likely that he'd heard something, and the ability to wake quickly had saved him too many times for him to easily put aside the habit now. When he didn't hear it again, he rolled to the far side of the bed and resolutely tried to fall back asleep.

Five minutes later, with a put-upon sigh, Peter dragged himself to his feet. The idea of the empty bed had wormed its way into his head and he couldn’t stop thinking about the cold, extra space. It was ridiculous and mortifying that he was actually considering knocking on Juno's door in the early hours of the morning to ask for a space in his bed; worse that he knew he wouldn’t, and that he would never get back to sleep now that he’d allowed himself to consider it. Might as well find a distraction, since he was up anyway.

He'd already passed the living area on his way to the kitchen when he stopped, a delayed reaction to something sending a chill down his spine, and slowly walked back in. It was dark - the faint lights of the hallway filtered in and mixed with the ambient light from the windows, giving only just enough illumination for Peter to find what unsettled him. There was someone in there, on the couch, sitting straight as a mannequin who’d been positioned that way and whispering something in a low, unnaturally steady thrum.

Peter froze in the doorway. It was Juno.

He didn't seem right; it was a vague conclusion that didn't do the pit in Peter's stomach justice, but it was a hard thing to define besides a sense of wrong. The muttering and the blank stare told him that Juno was probably sleepwalking, or something like it; the rigid way he was sitting and his sharp focus on nothing implied something else. He hadn't reacted at all to Peter passing through the room, to Peter walking right in front of him and right past that focused, unfocused stare, and he didn't react as Peter quietly walked closer.

"Juno?" Nothing. Not a twitch to indicate he'd heard, not so much as a pause between the stream of muttered, whispered words. Peter crept closer, sat slowly down next to him on the couch, and as he was reaching up to touch his shoulder he heard what Juno was saying.

“Goodness-is-the-only-purpose-I-have-little-potential-for-Good-therefore-I-am-worth-little-the-Tower-has-great-potential-therefore-it-is-great-"

It all felt deeply, deeply unsettling. It was Juno's voice but not his words; the cadence was even and emotionless and mechanic, as if something else were speaking through him with no concept of how to be Juno. Peter's hand stopped because suddenly, foolishly, he was afraid to attract the attention of whoever it was sitting next to him. And just as foolishly, he was afraid to leave Juno alone and lost.

"It's a dream, Nureyev," he muttered to himself, disgusted that a simple act of comfort was beyond him, even momentarily. Juno was trying, and what was Peter doing? Sitting next to him, unable to touch him, useless to him. Ridiculous. "Just wake him up and maybe you can both get some sleep."

"Boss?" Peter nearly jumped out of his skin, and he jostled Juno next to him; in his focus on listening to what Juno was saying, he hadn't heard Rita walk in. She was rubbing sleep from her eyes, looking between Peter and Juno. "Boss, you feelin’ okay?"

"-systems-are-beginning-to-fail-Emotional-Danger-Avoidance-Protocol-has-been-deactivated-request-received-diverting-remaining-processing-power-from-pain-numbing-functions-"

"Oh." Rita didn't seem confused. Concerned, though, in a quiet way that was so unlike her it made Peter wonder what happened to people on this ship at night to change them so thoroughly. Or perhaps, not on this ship at all. “You better leave this to me, Mista Ransom. I mean, you could try, but he probably wouldn’t remember you and it’d get pretty confusing.”

The pit of unease at the bottom of Peter’s stomach was widening, quickly. He stared at Juno. “He wouldn’t… remember?”

“He gets a little scrambled when he gets like this - it’s not really surprising after spending all that time with someone talking at him in his head all the time, you know, he told me about what it was like and I don’t think I’d like it myself, someone tryin’ to tell me what to do -“

“What… what are you...” Peter shook his head. Not important. It wasn’t important for him to understand right now, while his questions would only leave Juno stuck in his own mind longer. “Can you help him?”

Rita smiled at him reassuringly, as if the situation had not left her terrifyingly out of her depth. All the better, Peter thought faintly, as he continued to sit by and be useless. “Oh yeah, I got him. You can go to bed if you want.”

Peter shook his head. He would not be sleeping tonight, not until Juno was well. He could think about what his inability to leave meant later.

"Must've been a bad day if you're dealing with this again, huh?" She was talking to Juno and he wasn't hearing her, so she sat on his other side and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't react. "Mista Steel, it's Rita. You remember me, right? Rita's gonna get you outta there, don't you worry, boss."

"Ri-ta." He pronounced it like the sound was something strange and foreign, like he was making a first attempt to say something he'd never tried before. “Rita. Rita. Rita Rita Rita Rita...”

Suddenly, Juno's head snapped to look at her. It was unsettling; someone who was asleep should have been slower to react, but the movement was unnaturally swift. He looked right at Rita, and this time when he spoke, he almost, horribly, sounded like himself. He was smiling. "The net Good of: save the Tower and bring peace to every human in the Galaxy. Outweighs the net evil of: killing every person in this room, one by one, until you reveal yourself."

Rita just took one of his hands and patted the back of it. "Okay boss, that's real nice and all, but I'm sitting right here. You don't gotta lure me out, and besides we're not even there right now and we haven't been for a long time now. If you really wanna get back at me the only thing you can do is fire me, and we both know you’d never actually do that because then where would you be?"

The silence was so much bigger after her chatter; there was a tension in her shoulders that she wasn’t letting show on her face. And then the tension in Juno collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, and Peter heard a beautiful sound. "Rita?" He sounded exhausted, but that was unmistakably and mercifully Juno’s voice. "What am I... doing on the couch?"

Rita's smile was big enough to light up the room - big and genuine and relieved. Peter wondered if she would ever explain what he'd just seen, and somehow he doubted it. "You promised to watch a movie with me and Mista Ransom, boss! And since you're awake now anyway and you always say you're too busy to watch a movie in the middle of the day I just thought we might as well watch something in the middle of the night instead, since all you're ever doing then is sleeping anyway -"

It didn't seem like he was keeping up very well with what Rita was telling him, but the mention of "Ransom" must have caught his attention because he turned around to confirm that Peter was there. Snapped out of whatever trap of his own mind he'd been caught in a moment earlier, Juno just looked tired; Peter reached for his other hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling in a way that he hoped masked his uncertainty. "Might as well watch something until we all fall asleep, hm?"

Peter wasn't sure if Juno was too tired to comprehend what either of them were talking about, or if he was just comfortable enough in their combined presence that it didn't matter that he didn't understand; whatever the reason, instead of answering either of them or asking any more questions he lay his head on Peter's shoulder and was almost asleep already by the time Rita got back with her tablet.

~~~

It was only a voice, robotic and designed to be soothing. The message calmly explained the steps of the security procedure before the event during the elevator ride, and Juno reached for Peter's hand.

His grip was tight and desperate, like a vice, but he wouldn't look over to Peter. He wouldn't explain if he could, wasn't allowed to explain here even if Peter was allowed to ask and they weren't already in their characters for the latest job. Juno wasn't ready to talk about it.

Peter squeezed his hand and took a step closer, disguised behind a subtle shift in his stance. "Just hold onto me, love," he muttered under his breath, hoping Juno could hear. "We'll make it through."

~~~

It was garbage television, what Peter finally settled on while he worked his way through an enormous bowl of ice cream in the preciously rare, quiet evening on the Carte Blanche. He'd probably have joined the festivities planetside if not for the badly-sprained ankle and cracked ribs, and he'd probably have been more upset about the whole thing had Juno not volunteered to stay with him. As it was, he allowed himself to enjoy the evening for exactly what it was - quiet and calm that he usually didn't get, and alone time with Juno with blissfully few expectations for either of them.

Juno had settled him in, placed the bowl and the remote in his hands, and kissed the top of Peter's head before promising that he'd be back in a minute. Peter took advantage of his absence to find something really awful to watch, fully planning to use his injuries as emotional manipulation if Juno started to complain. Remote privileges were rare in their strange little group.

He'd settled on a conspiracy program before Juno got back, a recent special set in Hyperion City - ought to be good for a laugh for Juno, too, who'd probably spend the entire time arguing with the host about everything she didn't know about the city he'd grown up in. Peter had seen the odd article about it circulating the tabloids - New Town, home of experimental brainwashing that no one could prove. As unlikely as it was interesting, far-fetched as it was entertaining.

Juno walked in as the theme started to play, already groaning. "I have no idea why you like this show. It's such a crock of shit and you know it." The criticism was tempered by good-natured laughter.

"Some of us like a good story well-told, Detective, even if it's not quite true." He smiled as he looked above him, where Juno was leaning over the couch... and stopped when he saw his expression. "Juno?"

Juno was staring at the tv, looking for all the world like he'd just seen a ghost. The program opened on a scene of former Mayor O'Flaherty, giving a speech about good to an awed and eagar public, specifically about creating a better home; Juno stared, so still and yet hanging on every word.

"Juno, dear? Are you... alright?"

He shook his head and cleared his throat. "Uh, what exactly are you watching?"

"That 'New Town' conspiracy, the one with the brainwashing." Juno didn't say anything, didn't seem to react in any way Peter could see. "Juno. Tell me what's wrong, please."

Juno rubbed at his eye, first over the patch and then under it, still watching the tv. The footage had changed from the speech to a dramatic shot of New Town's grand opening, played in slow motion with tense, swelling music to make the moment appropriately dramatic. "It's... nothing's wrong." He glanced down at Peter, and cracked an uneasy smile when he saw exactly how much Peter believed that. "Okay, nothing's wrong right now. It's just..."

"Just...?"

"A bad memory. A few bad memories."

Peter wasn't sure if he should ask, wasn't sure if he was allowed. Juno had put so much work into being open; wasn't it his part to respect the boundaries where they were, and to trust that Juno would talk to him when he was ready? They'd invested so much time and effort in building something that wouldn't collapse and hurt them both. So instead of pushing, he asks: "Sit with me?"

And when he does, Juno asks him: "Did I ever tell you how I met Buddy?"

When Juno starts his story, honest and well-told, Peter turns off the television to listen to him.

[genderbinaryisforlosers]

everyone on the carte blanche for the ask meme

everyone? oh boy this is gonna get long ajfhdsf

JUNO

First impression: i, like a lot of people who get into the podcast without knowing a great deal about it, was expecting at most an ambiguously bisexual angst machine with a closely-guarded heart of gold. juno being an explicitly bisexual genderqueer angst machine is perhaps the most pleasant surprise of my life. the angst machine heart of gold characters were kind of my type at the time, so i loved him right away

Impression now: every time i think about juno’s arc from depressed mess held together by bad coping mechanisms, safety pins, and a few good strong puns into someone who can talk about his feelings, feel comfortable about being happy, and recognise when he needs to change, i want to cry about it a little bit. the depth of my love for juno steel has only grown along with him

Favourite moment: juno has a lot of great one-liners and i’m still a big fan of the “on the other hand i wasn’t wearing a watch” bit and who can forget such classics as juno finally deciding to stop moping over nureyev and move on only for him to open the door to his apartment and find nureyev sitting in the dark dramatically, but honestly nothing will ever hit me harder than his sudden, pissed-off declaration of “i can’t die yet, i still have shit to do!” in promised land. god.

Idea for a story: oh i have so many and i want to write most of them so no spoilers, but juno accidentally kidnaps a baby during a carte blanche heist and shenanigans ensue

Unpopular opinion: obviously we all know he’s dummy thicc but i feel like a lot of people forget he’s an actual genius, like the stuff he notices and how he strings it together is sometimes so obscure and he’s almost always right. oh, also juno is not skinny and i will not be taking criticism on that

Favourite relationship: this is so tough because every dynamic is so good, but i think it has to be juno and rita. those two are so good! the best best friends in the world!! i’m really a sucker for any dynamic that’s ridiculously in-sync so i loved these two as soon as juno saw rita’s notes in prince of mars and went “makes perfect sense to me” (which it probably didn’t, because rita, but he trusted that she knew what she was doing which is the important part)

Favourite headcanon: this isn’t really a headcanon but i still think about how juno is (was?) deathly afraid of heights but when he heard rex glass coming he still attempted to climb out of the window. either his aversion to working with dark matters/other people in general was so strong is overrided his fear, or his office was actually on the ground floor. not sure which of these is funnier.

NUREYEV

First impression: we’ve all seen the memes about nureyev knowing juno steel for one (1) day and deciding to Risk It All by leaving him with his name, look at this Hopeless Romantic, this utter DISASTER of a homosexual. the fact the very next time we hear from nureyev (at least directly) he’s patiently waiting in juno’s dark apartment to surprise him with a heist definitely supports this image.

Impression now: even after literally being inside peter’s head, i feel like we didn’t get a real sense of who he is until man in glass, where we find out he aggressively compartmentalises everything that causes him stress. he’s also distinctly someone who’s had his heart broken before, i think, which makes those first appearances of his very strange. but it does remind me of what juno says about diamond, and how he decided to provide the trust first and wait for the trustworthiness to grow in (only to get severely hurt), and i think that’s exactly what nureyev did. i am also... very uneasy with how suspicious he’s behaving this season because obviously i want to believe he’ll sort it all out and not betray the crew but... oof

Favourite moment: the beginning of what lies beyond pt1 where he’s affectionately bullying juno into taking care of himself? cleared my crops watered my skin etc etc etc

Idea for a story: i’d love to hear more about his past as a young thief idolising buddy and vespa (i can’t actually remember if that’s canon or fanon but anyway i wanna read it!)

Unpopular opinion: i think people often cling to an image of him that more resembles his first impressions in season 1 instead of seeing the depth that we’ve been given about his character in season 3

Favourite relationship: him and juno but honestly it’s a close call between them and his budding friendship with rita. even though she learned it by accident, his name is still a point of intimacy and it’s one less secret to keep around her which has to be a weight off his shoulders, at least a little? they seem like they could be really good friends once ultrabots is out of the way. juno steel love (and also bullying) zone activates whenever they’re together

Favourite headcanon: i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again - nureyev has never done a household chore in his goddamn life. he doesn’t know the water needs to be hot when you wash dishes.

RITA

First impression: honestly i’m not sure? i don’t remember having a big awareness of her in murderous mask but i remember loving her “note-taking” in prince of mars, i thought she sounded really fun and cute

Impression now: rita is really fun and cute, she’s also an extremely hardworking and dedicated woman who had the guts to throw in with a detective fired from the force and then invest all of her time and money into helping him help people.

Favourite moment: Rita Gets A Knife. enough said

Idea for a story: i don’t know honestly! i really struggle to write rita because her thought processes are so wild and i don’t think any story i could come up with would match mega ultrabots of cyberjustice.

Unpopular opinion: this shouldn’t be unpopular because juno steel himself shares this opinion but all future-jupeter headcanons are incomplete without rita also being a huge part of their lives

Favourite relationship: rita + franny 4ever obviously.. jk it’s juno & rita have you heard rita minute 3 they’re too adorable for this world. im still Soft over their conversation at the end of soul of the people when he said he couldn’t stay in hyperion anymore but he wouldn’t leave with the carte blanche if rita wasn’t coming because he was done leaving her behind, and she threw out all her hesitations on the spot and said call the big guy. speaking of, rita & jet are a close second. instant best friends i love them.

Favourite headcanon: i think this is basically canon now but rita being literally half the height of jet is so good

JET

First impression: “haha lorge funny man puts juno in the trash”

Impression now: jet sikuliaq is one of the dearest characters to me out of anything ever. he is a huge, menacing, polite, kind, sincere man who i would very much like to give me a hug. he’s the best aro ace in outer space and while being generally very levelheaded and straightforward, also takes every opportunity to fuck with juno because it’s very easy and very hilarious to him personally. he is everything my autistic acearo ass needed and i’m so glad to have him

Favourite moment: all of them every single one. him putting juno in the trash is of course a classic and every moment jet chooses to be funny makes my heart happy, but also every piece of genuine advice he gives. i’m a particular fan though of buddy recounting her years in the lighthouse and him saying he became concerned when she didn’t come downstairs at the usual time. “you took the door off its hinges.” “i was deeply concerned.” king of understatement

Idea for a story: again no spoilers for you but..... tools of rust time loop au

Unpopular opinion: this isn’t “unpopular” as much as it is unknown but jet is buddy’s queerplatonic partner and i will keep saying it until everyone believes it

Favourite relationship: jet and buddy,,, just everything about them. the way he suspects when she’s lying, the way she makes tea for him when she expects him to drop by. the fact he comes to check on her when she is 41 seconds late to the family meeting because it’s unlike her to be late and the last time she was late for something her brain was turning to radiation soup. but most especially the way she snaps at him to stay out of her business and he said he could not because he made her promise eight years ago to never stay out of the business of her health, no matter how many times she asked. they r literally in a qpr

Favourite headcanon: i don’t think this is true but i still think it would be funny if the ruby-7 used to be painted red but when jet got it he had it painted green because he Just Really Likes Green (as evidenced by his hovercycle). it’s very funny to me.

BUDDY

First impression: it’s been a minute since i relistened to time gone by but i’m pretty sure the first thing she ever says in the podcast is sliding up to depressed accidental whiskey thief juno and say “that’ll be ten million creds,” scaring the shit out of him, so needless to say i was in love instantly.

Impression now: my love for buddy aurinko has only grown and if it sounds like i already said that in this post it’s because i did about juno and it’s appropriate because the parallels are astounding. the heart of it all gave us such depth to buddy’s internal monologue and why she always sounds like she knows exactly what to say and what that’s like and honestly will i ever be over the heart of it all as an episode? unlikely. i think i’m gonna have a little piece of it in MY heart forever.

Favourite moment: everything she’s ever said is iconic as hell i especially like “in an impressive fit of hubris i’ve decided not to prepare my words for this vow” which made me laugh out loud but once again i must give it up for her iconic “I WANT TO LIVE” moment. honourable mentions to her taking rita out for ice cream and giving juno shooting lessons while she’s in her actual wedding gown. i love her

Idea for a story: buddy and vespa as sun/moon dieties.... that’s all

Unpopular opinion: stop drawing her with a fancy high-tech eye like the theia!! it canonically looks like garbage and it’s described in detail, please, i’m dying, also don’t minimise her scars you bastards

Favourite relationship: buddy and vespa invented romantic love and the entire carte blanche crew’s relationship to her is great but you know by now i’m a slut for buddy & jet out-of-this-world queerplatonic partners. the way she checks in on him during tools of rust to make sure he’s not relapsing and he comes to find her when she is 41 seconds late in the heart of it all to make sure she’s not having a heart problem!! it’s the trust,, the devotion,, the mortifying ordeal of being known

Favourite headcanon: she can sing. absolutely tears it up at karaoke. i’m right

VESPA

First impression: knife lesbian goes STAB. she will heal your wounds but she will be threatening to give you more the whole time

Impression now: she is extremely strong, heart-rendingly tender, and despite being in the older half of the carte blanche crew somehow has unmistakable little sister energy which makes her downright hilarious. i’m so glad she got to marry buddy and they’re official space wives now they’re so good for each other

Favourite moment: both from shadows in the ship, either “GUN!!” “KNIFE?!” (iconic) or when she clocks the dark matters drone pretending to be juno because it called her crazy and juno wouldn’t call her crazy. i’m always a sucker for “shapeshifter fails to fool mark because they Know Each Other Too Well” and it was just *chefs kiss* so good

Idea for a story: i really want to write something about when she was first staying at the lighthouse with buddy post-reunion, and getting to know jet and stuff. i think it would be cute

Unpopular opinion: i know vespa doesn’t canonically have lots of scarring but people who don’t draw her with scarring? cowards.

Favourite relationship: once again, although buddy and vespa invented romantic love, i just love the dynamic between vespa and juno so much. they’ve come so far with each other and their weird sibling dynamic gives me life. at the end of what lies beyond when juno says “we’re not gonna kill her, vespa” and instead of sounding full of Rage and Suspicion she’s like “whyyy notttt?” and he’s like “because i said so!” and that’s just good enough for her even if she’s a bit grumpy about it. i love it.

this took.. a hot minute to do! jshkfjsdgsa thank you dyl ily <3

[halothenthehorns]

MAYHEM AT THE MINISTRY

Remus did not look pleased one little bit about accepting the book. He hated how they'd grown almost content, getting so many pleasant chapters in a row and then the huge finale of the Cup, just to have such a terrible one right after. He was terrified the trend would continue, but being afraid of something had never actually stopped him from doing anything, let alone in regards to a book, so he kept going.

Arthur woke them all very early the next morning, packed down the tents with magic, and only gave a vague wave to Mr. Roberts as they passed, while he called out a cheerful 'Merry Christmas!'

Lily's mind flickered back to her earlier worry that to many memory charms couldn't be good for him, and to have something so powerful taken away as well, oh she really hoped he would be okay.

Mr. Weasley spotted Harry's concerned look and promised he would be fine, some people got a little hazy with such a large memory being altered. When they reached the sight to collect their Portkey, there was already a huge queue all clamoring to get out of there at once.

"Cannot blame them," Remus sighed.

Arthur managed to get his way to the front, have a quick conversation with Basil, and returned back with a Portkey to take them home.

"Least they didn't have to wait on the Diggory's," Sirius sniffed.

    They walked back down the hill with little spirit, too tired to do much of anything, but were all caught off guard by a shrill voice shouting in gratitude they'd returned.

"Molly," they all muttered in surprise, considering the time it was a wonder she was awake, but even more surprising was that this reaction meant she knew what had happened already.

Upon reflection though, the four of them weren't that surprised, the Daily Prophet was known for staying on top of the news, though not always in the best light.

Molly was sprinting up the drive towards the lot of them, colliding first with her husband and dropping her newspaper in the process, which fell to the ground letting Harry read the title explaining that terror had happened at the Cup, including a photo of the Dark Mark.

Mrs. Weasley was still sobbing into her husband's shoulder, but quickly turned watery eyes to check and make sure all were still present, before her eyes caught sight of the twins and she latched an arm around each neck and pulled them in, crashing their heads together.

"Ooh," Lily sighed, completely understanding why she'd feel particularly awful for those two.

"Think now would be a good time to drop the bomb they won a gambling bet," Sirius smiled weakly, "I don't think they'd get in quite as much trouble for it."

Lily shot him a look, but as his joking tone hadn't quite smothered his own happiness at the scene, she didn't say anything.

The twins tried to protest their treatment, but Molly kept crying into them now that she felt terrible the last thing she'd done before they'd left was yell about their O.W.L.'s!

"This is really sweet," Remus smiled widely without a trace a humor.

"Bet it only lasts a day before they find some new way to tick her off," James chuckled, not really able to pick up his own poking fun at the situation.

Arthur finally managed to detach his wife from her kids and convince her to come inside so he could explain things to her, muttering at Bill as he passed to grab that paper so he could read it. Once Mrs. Weasley had calmed, Arthur did indeed read the print and found it full of the wrongdoings on the Ministry's part at the Cup.

"All the standard tosh of the paper," Sirius snorted.

He demanded of no one who had written it, then seemed to catch sight of the name Rita Skeeter.

Harry felt a vile shot of annoyance at once, a scowl appearing when he heard that name, but it was diminished as always when Remus kept reading so he chose not to pay it any attention.

Percy at once jumped in at how furious that woman made him, how she'd gone on about his useless report and had instead been trying to say they should be out hunting down vampires, going on to list the Guideline specifically explaining why this wasn't even a thing, when Bill cut him off by politely asking him to shut up.

Causing all four boys to crack up laughing, they were all liking Bill more and more as this kept on.

Mr. Weasley hadn't even been listening and had kept at the paper, stating in surprise he'd been referenced. Mrs. Weasley choked on her tea in shock, saying she hadn't seen that, and Arthur quickly corrected it hadn't been by name, just his passing comment saying that nothing had happened that night.

"There was no more information to give," Lily scoffed.

Rita Skeeter had added her own thoughts to that saying it probably wouldn't be enough to squash the rumors about bodies later being removed, causing Arthur to scoff that now she'd said that there certainly would be rumors.

"Why do I get the feeling Arthur has previous experience with this writer?" Sirius asked.

"She certainly sounds more like a tabloid then a reporter," Remus grumbled.

Arthur gave one last heavy sigh before telling his family he'd have to run into the office because of this. Percy agreed he'd come, he could hand Crouch his report on cauldron bottoms in person.

"I'm sure that'll be the highlight of his day," James sneered.

Percy sprinted up the stairs without another word, while Molly tried to protest Arthur's leaving, saying he'd just gotten home, and this had nothing to do with his department. Arthur gently corrected her he may have made things worse.

"No one in the Ministry would know it was Arthur who said that," Lily arched a brow in surprise. "This Rita person could have pulled that comment out of the air."

"Arthur really doesn't have a reason to feel so responsible," James nodded in agreement, "he didn't do anything wrong."

Arthur left for a quick change of clothes, and Harry couldn't hold in the question anymore of whether he'd gotten mail while he was away.

They all eagerly shut their trap in hopes Molly would say yes to that one.

Molly distractedly said nothing had come in.

Then they started to get a little fidgety, all eyes flickering to Sirius and away. Sirius tried for a scoff, scolding all of them, "oh relax, just because I haven't responded already," he hesitated for a moment, wavering and trying to come up with a reason for himself, before asking Harry, "how long did it usually take me to reply?"

"Less than two weeks," Harry gave a shrug he didn't really feel.

"See," Sirius really did relax back this time. "I haven't even gotten his letter yet, are you lot really going to be freaking out the day I'm late?"

'Yes' was the collective mental answer all of them had, but none of them bothered to answer him aloud. They'd take the paranoia and be wrong with relief every time than think for even a second Sirius had been captured, none of them could stand another year like the last one.

Harry's two friends looked curiously at him, and he heavily suggested he go dump his stuff in Ron's room. Ron and Hermione agreed that would be a good idea and came along.

"Absolutely subtle," Sirius started to snicker, then switched to scowling at his two friends when they wouldn't quite watching him with unease. If they didn't lighten up he was going to have to start doing something drastic.

They waited until they reached the privacy of Ron's room before demanding of Harry what that had been about, and he finally told them of his scar hurting a few days ago. Their reactions were near perfect to how Harry had predicted them.

"It's good you know your friends so well," James muttered, finally turning away from Sirius. He wasn't done worrying about him yet, and frankly he wouldn't be until his name was cleared, but at least this was a mildly entertaining distraction.

Ron began demanding to know that You-Know-Who hadn't been around Harry this time, right?

Lily really did start laughing at that. Harry's spot on imaginary Ron had been perfect.

Harry agreed he was sure no one was there who shouldn't be, but it was strange. His dream had been about Wormtail,

Remus managed to spit out that name with the same amount of contempt he would have with the word Mudblood, or werewolf, or a number of things he wished he'd never in his life have to mention again.

saying he couldn't clearly remember details anymore, but they'd been talking about murdering...someone.

"I get the feeling they could have filled in that blank," James mumbled, wiggling just that little bit closer to his son no matter how stupid he may have deemed it in retrospect.

He hadn't been able to say the word 'me' because Hermione looked more than terrified enough.

Lily was doing a remarkable reenactment of that expression now, and she had the knowledge Harry was going to be fine. It was still making Harry feel just as bad for his mum as his friend, but was unable to help soothe either of them.

Ron tried to comfort all of them it had just been a nightmare though, nothing to worry about, but Harry disagreed. Stating how odd these coincidences were, his scar had hurt, and three days later Voldemort's sign appeared in the sky.

"Why, why on earth can't we just have one year where we don't even have to mention Voldemort's name?" Remus groused.

"Because my life would be too boring otherwise," Harry muttered.

Ron snapped at Harry not to say You-Know-Who's real name, but Harry ignored him as always. Reminding them of Trelawney's prediction last year.

"Haven't been able to forget it yet, but thanks for the reminder," Sirius muttered, that prophecy had nearly been his undoing, and even when he'd found out it hadn't related to him it was not a pleasant look back.

That finally distracted Hermione from her fear, giving a huffy laugh at Harry for believing anything she said.

"You never told them she made a real prophecy?" James asked in surprise.

"Never got around to it," Harry shrugged, giving Sirius an absent nudge as he said, "had some other stuff on my mind that night, and then I was trying to forget about it there at the end."

Sirius though had something much more entertaining to say as he gave his best friend a superior smirk and demanded, "so you do admit prophecies are real now?"

"Can't hardly deny it when Harry had one smacked in his face," Remus sighed, already being able to tell where this was headed by Sirius' pompous tone.

"Then you owe me years of apologizes for calling me a loon in believing in them," Sirius crowed, his smile stretching wider every second as he glanced from one friend to the other. "Go on, I want to hear you say it now. Prophecies exist!"

"Oh knock it off Snuffles," Harry sighed, for some reason the idea of Sirius talking about this was setting him on edge, but even as he finished he ended on a pained hiss and went cross eyed, trying to understand why he'd call Sirius that. After blinking away a few bright spots, he saw he wasn't the only one.

"Now why would you know that name?" Remus asked first. "I only called him that a half a dozen times, back in our fourth year."

"I've never heard this one," James raised an even more surprised brow at his two friends.

Sirius shrugged with nonchalant as he said, "it was during our Christmas break, and I got a head cold. Kept sneezing and body parts kept randomly turning into a dog, we didn't master our transformations until fifth year," Sirius added on for Harry. "Remus kept laughing about it every time and started calling me Snuffles all week. By the time you," he broke off with an old wince at the fact he couldn't add on the other name without substituting a swear word, "got back, the joke had died off."

Harry nodded in understanding, but none of this answered their original question, why on earth Harry would know any of that. The whole matter had successfully distracted both Sirius and Harry though, so Remus decided to keep reading now while he still could.

Harry defended the Divination teacher though, saying it had definitely been a real prediction this time, even quoting the parts about the Dark Lord's return, reminding the end results had been Wormtail's escape that night.

Now Remus regretted it and wanted to go back to admitting Sirius had been right about something, it was certainly easier to stomach then thinking on that. Through a red haze he glanced up and saw the other four were a mask of boiling hatred again, so Remus collected himself and put on the most tragic face he could muster as he said, "alright Padfoot, I admit, you were right about prophecies. Never again shall I argue with your unending knowledge, about this," he quickly tacked on, already knowing he was going to regret giving in the moment Sirius attempted to replace his bloodlust with a satisfied smirk. It didn't really work, his jaw was still clenched too tightly for the expression to look natural, but the fact he even attempted a smile made it feel worth it to Remus.

No one could think of anything else to add until Hermione again asked about Hedwig. Harry said he'd written a letter to Sirius asking about this, and Ron agreed at once that was a great idea, he'd have an answer for them.

"Why on earth would they think that?" James demanded at once, far more up for pestering his best mate then giving in to him. "You hardly know the difference between Devil's Snare and Mandrakes."

"Oi," Sirius hooted. "What's those evil little plants got to do with knowing about this Dark stuff? I know plenty about that, more than you."

James looked like he was about to keep pressing in, with a highly amused audience of Remus and Harry, but Lily gave Remus a hard nudge and waved him on, still wanting to get through this chapter more then watch them snip at each other no matter how much it made her feel better.

Harry agreed, though expressed he was worried he'd thought Sirius would reply by now. Hermione reminded they had no idea how far away he was, it would take longer than just three days. Harry agreed with a heavy sigh.

James kept his superior expression in place even as that feeling of jealousy returned, still wishing in vain he could have replaced that sentence with his own name.

Ron quickly changed the subject by offering Harry to come play Quidditch, he knew all of his brothers would join in, and Harry could try the Wronski Feint.

"Oh that's a brilliant idea," Lily sighed, "because one life or death experience isn't enough for you in a twenty-four hour period."

"Stop exaggerating Lily," Sirius snickered, "Quidditch is good for him, helps him work out the nerves."

Hermione snapped at him in a 'I-don't-think-you're-being-very-sensitive' sort of voice

"I get the feeling she has to use that voice often," Remus chuckled.

by saying Harry didn't want to play Quidditch now,

"Oh yes he does," Harry laughed, the idea of trying out that move again now still present.

that he should want to go to bed, but Harry interrupted that a game sounded fun.

"Best to cut her off before she could keep going like that," James snickered, "she'd be tucking you into bed before you knew it."

He went rummaging for his Firebolt as Hermione stomped out muttering about 'boys.'

"I'm sure there were some other things mixed in there," Lily rolled her eyes, on complete agreement with Hermione on that.

The narrative jumps in by saying that for the next week, neither Percy nor Arthur were home much. Percy could be heard saying over dinner the Sunday before they were due back at school how the place was in an uproar in a pompous, superior tone.

"I swear that's the description you give after everything he says," Sirius snorted.

"And he doesn't deserve it one bit," Remus agreed.

People kept sending Howlers complaining of what all had happened, and wanting reimbursement for their stuff. One Mundungus Fletcher was wanting compensation for his twelve-bedroom tent that had been destroyed, but Percy knew for a fact he'd been sleeping under his own cloak.

"What an idiot," Lily scoffed, "did he really think he could get away with that?"

"I've heard of stupider things he's tried," James shrugged.

Unlike before, where he'd still felt to unsure to hardly even speak up, Harry had no qualms this time inserting himself into the conversation and asking, "how do you guys know him?" In hopes to ease some of the pressure in his skull telling him he should know that name anyways.

"He's an old friend of Dumbledore's," Remus shrugged, "does a lot of things for the Order most members either can't, or won't do because they don't have the same ah, connections."

"Friend is putting it lightly," Sirius snorted. "Dumbledore keeps bailing him out from the stupider crimes he gets caught doing, so Mundungus does whatever he asks." Then he turned to Harry and put much more bluntly, "he's a criminal, never made an honest living in his life, but he's pretty fun to have around. Dung's always been good for a laugh, and he can get you some really cheap things most won't normally go after."

"You are not endearing me," Harry finally laughed to show he'd gotten the message. All of this helped somewhat, he was now quite sure this was the same way he knew the same man, but there was still something missing. A connection he was sure he had to the name, but of course that wouldn't come to him.

Molly was not paying attention to the conversation, glancing repetitively at the clock where all of the Weasley family's names had replaced the hands, and instead of numbers it indicated such things as work, traveling, or home,

"I love that," Lily said instantly, her eyes brightening with want.

"I wonder how they got ahold of that," James ruffled up his brow thoughtfully, his mind already spinning with the idea he'd like to recreate that for his family, that nasty little pang reminding him of the count of hands he'd have now rather than if he'd heard about this just a week ago.

"It was an anniversary present for Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, "I think Mr. Weasley made it, though I have no idea how."

"Fascinating," Lily said honestly, adding this to her growing list of things she had a mind to say to the Weasleys when she planned to meet them in person.

"I do wonder though," Remus said with some surprise, "why she was so worried about her family if she had that. It would have said whether anything bad had happened to them."*

"There's a difference in a clock telling you, and seeing them in person," Lily said mildly.

"Besides," Sirius shrugged, "considering the time they arrived back, I'll bet you she just saw that paper and sprinted out the back to wait, I don't think that would have crossed her mind till later, and they came back soon enough she didn't have time to check."

as well as lost, hospital, prison,

Lily couldn't help but snort, thinking 'oh that's lovely.'

and, mortal peril.

"Sounds handy," Sirius snickered.

"That's where your hand would be all year," Lily shot back.

Sirius went wide eyed and pressed his hand to his heart as he cooed at her, "awe, Lily, you'd put my name up there?"

"Don't flatter yourself," she tried to say with a straight face, though the effect was ruined by her twitching lips.

All of the hands but Arthur's currently pointed at home, while his was at work. Mrs. Weasley gave a heavy sigh as she said to no one in particular that he hadn't been working this much since the time of You-Know-Who.

"Why would Mr. Weasley's job be involved in that?" Harry asked in surprise. "If he just informs people about what Muggle stuff is?"

Lily wasn't a hundred percent sure herself, as she'd personally never even spoken to Arthur in real life, and only had a vague idea of where his office even was in the Ministry, but she knew for a fact she had to send owls down there all the time for other things besides just what a Muggle object was so she offered, "it's a bit more than that dear. I don't think you quite realize how often wizards, mistakenly or not, involve themselves in Muggle affairs. Whatever any department does, Arthur would have to make sure to check it over and make sure it doesn't interfere with anything to do with Muggles. This Dark Mark business," Lily heaved a huge sigh in sympathy for the Ministry falling into even a portion of the pandemonium it was on a daily basis to her in this timeline, "it causes all sorts of mayhem at the Ministry to keep that sort of thing under wraps from the Muggles no matter how far away they were. All those wizards panicking and fleeing the scene for instance, apparating away in their panic and landing in Muggle neighborhoods for instance, could have shocked any number of them, you see where I'm going?" She finished with an expectant look.

Harry nodded in understanding, his sympathy for the Weasley patriarch suddenly doubling.

Saying his job was working him to hard, and his dinner would be ruined by the time he got here. Percy said that his father had brought this on himself with his mistake.

James's mouth opened with a little pop as he gasped, "is Percy really agreeing with the Ministry over his own father with that nonsense?"

"What a little prat," Sirius nodded with a heavy scowl in place.

Saying he shouldn't have said anything until he'd spoken with his Head of Department about the press,

"He is the Head of his Department," Remus snapped, stunned that he was defending Arthur from one of his own kids. Bloody hell, he remembered this random snap of information from when Ron had said it two books ago! How could Percy be acting like this?

Lily had always had the most sympathy for Percy, she found his position in the family more sad than annoying like the rest of the boys seemed to, but even she was getting a little fiery over the way he was acting now, there was no excuse of taking your jobs side over your family's.

Harry's thoughts were in perfect alignment with his mother's, wondering why on earth all of this Percy talk felt like a bad omen.

but Molly cut him off with a snap that Percy was not going to sit there and blame his father for whatever Skeeter had caused! Bill agreed with his mother, saying if their dad hadn't said anything, Skeeter would have just said no one at the Ministry had bothered to give a comment, all while keeping his eyes on the chessboard he was playing with Ron on.

That was a quick distraction, all of them vividly remembering the last time Ron had been mentioned playing chess, at least this time the pieces weren't life sized.

Harry gave a happy smile at this, saying, "Bill was the only one who could play Ron and actually be a threat to him."

Still going on to say that she didn't like anyone, she'd done some interviews of the Curse Breakers once, and she'd called him a 'long-haired pillock.'

"Well this woman's just getting more and more charming," Remus scoffed.

Molly couldn't seem to help herself as she did agree it was getting a bit long, but Bill cut her off with a quick no.

"I get the feeling that must be a daily occurrence," Sirius snorted, brushing his hair out of his own face.

Rain was pouring down outside, the cozy little scene in the living room displaying all of them sitting around in comfort working on something. Charlie was currently tending a fireproof balaclava,

"Why would he need to fix a fireproof anything?" Harry asked in surprise, having been too invested in his own project at the time to ask.

"It can still get worn out even when it's not set on fire," Lily shrugged, "I'm sure Charlie has to do that on his own all the time, considering how little he's home."

Harry was polishing his Firebolt, and the twins were off in the corner muttering over a piece of paper.

"Subtle," James snorted, thinking they'd at least have the sense to make more order forms outside of their mother's point of view.

"I think they're just asking for another argument," Remus nodded.

Molly seemed to notice this at the same time as Harry, as she snapped at her twins what they were up to? Fred responded at once with homework.

"Right," Sirius exaggerated the word to the extreme.

Mrs. Weasley scolded they were still on holiday, and George agreed they'd just left it a bit late.

"Now that I'll believe," Lily snorted.

She was still glaring at them as she demanded to know if those were more to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?

"Can't restart what they never gave up on," Remus smirked, as clearly no matter what their mother said, those two had this in the works for some time.

Fred turned hurt filled eyes on her, reminding that if the Hogwarts express crashed tomorrow and they died, did she really want to pick an argument with them about this?

Lily gave a small sigh, she didn't really think it was right to pick on their mother for that reaction she'd had, but it didn't erase her own laughter blending in with the boys at their picking.

Even Mrs. Weasley laughed at her son's picking, but then she quickly turned to excitement when she saw Arthur's hand finally switch from traveling, and then seconds later, home. She was already bustling towards the kitchen before Arthur could call out, and he came into the living room looking haggard. He picked listlessly at his meal as the told those around him that Skeeter was still causing all kinds of problems, now she'd found out about Bertha and that was going to be another Ministry blunder headline. Percy agreed Crouch had said weeks ago someone should go looking for her.

"Did he really need to add that?" Sirius muttered, fighting down the compulsion more with every line he spoke to smack Percy.

Arthur grumbled back they were just lucky Skeeter didn't know about Crouch's involvement with that Dark Mark business, that would be a headline for weeks.

"If that did happen, his grounds of clothing his elf would make a bit more sense," Sirius quirked a brow in surprise, "so I guess if you think about it, he was just doing that preemptively."

"I cannot believe you're really going back and saying that was okay," Lily balked at him.

Sirius rolled his eyes at her and said, "What? I still think they were over the line treating her like that, but we all know Crouch has such a large stick up his arse it's not really surprising he'd think that way. If you consider the way he is now, I wouldn't be surprised one little bit the second something Dark is connected to his name he'd throw it to the wolves."

"You're depressing me," Lily sighed, slumping back into the couch without argument for that.

Harry was getting a bubbling feeling in his gut, something in him telling him Sirius was very close to the mark and none of them realized it, but of course he couldn't begin to imagine details of what this was.

Percy was getting a temper now as he said everyone here had agreed Crouch had nothing to do with that!

James scoffed as he snapped, "I wouldn't be surprised if Percy just said that and no one argued with him. While yes he's right," he rolled his eyes, "you don't need to go shouting at them for it."

Hermione shot back Crouch was lucky the Prophet didn't know how he treated elves!

Sirius couldn't help a surprised little snort of laughter, that's what Hermione had caught on? No one else would bat an eye at that part.

Percy sighed at her, trying to defend his boss that such a man couldn't have disobedient servants, but Hermione hotly cut him off and corrected slave!

"Eh," James waved his hand vaguely, "I think Hermione's exaggerating the term a bit."

"I don't," Lily snapped at once. The more she heard about this, the more she was kicking herself or never having looked farther into it. "What's so different with house-elves, and treating people that same way?"

"The practice of house-elves being attached to wizarding families goes back centuries," Sirius rolled his eyes, "it's practically as common as wizards themselves."

"Just because it's old and traditional doesn't make it right," Lily ground out. "You're saying that these beings that are clearly as human as Remus shouldn't be treated the same."

"Hey," Remus yelped, "don't drag me into this." His eyes were getting wider the longer this dragged on, he actually began edging away from Lily as he sensed a true fight coming on and he did not want to be in the middle of this.

Sirius was clearly getting angry now, his glare actually holding some real threats of violence if she kept this up, she shouldn't have dragged Remus into this! His voice came out more of a growl now, "that's not fair and you know it. Don't you take a shot at him when they're two completely different things."

"How?" Lily insisted, her eyes narrowing clearly showing she wasn't going to back down one bit. "You tell me how treating something as lesser than you as a slave isn't that far off the mark how werewolves are treated, like a pariah."

"OKAY!" James finally got out louder than them. The baby in Lily's lap, already squirming in agitation at all of the raised voices, actually began wailing then, causing Lily to break away her glare and begin soothing her son, admittedly still more flushed than usual. James wasn't looking much better himself, alternately scowling at his wife for making Remus clearly so uncomfortable, and Sirius refusing to back down and just let the matter go. "You two knock it off, there's no since acting like this towards each other. Let Remus finish this chapter, then you two can have it out somewhere where we don't have to hear it."

Lily finally convinced baby Harry to stop crying by then, sitting back into her seat, and still throwing haughty looks at Sirius, which he was returning. Harry and his father exchanged an uneasy look, James had been hoping that someone cutting them off would make one of them admit it was time to let this go but that clearly wasn't the case. Remus still looked a little shell-shocked, but at a nod from James he decided to keep going.

Reminding that Winky hadn't been paid. Molly cut into the argument by telling her children to go upstairs and make sure everything was packed.

'I should take notes' Harry mentally thought, still frowning at all four of them. He'd seen them argue before, and he never liked to watch it.

Harry got to his feet and followed Ron up to his room, where Pigwidgeon set up a flutter when they came in. Ron threw him an owl treat to get him to shut up, and Harry watched the little owl with worry as he said it had been over a week since he'd seen his own.

"You said yourself she normally takes twice that long," James sighed, running his hand through his hair in agitation, as if he needed another thing to worry about.

"Well yeah, but I don't know. I was kind of hoping since this one was kind of urgent, he'd find a way to get a reply quicker," Harry offered with a shrug.

Harry then asked Ron with real worry if Sirius had been captured.

Lily's skin tone went back to normal, and then a few shades paler in shock. This was not the first, nor certainly the last, time she'd been ticked off at Sirius for some careless comment he made, but she was suddenly struck once again by this horrid future they were listening to and realizing these little spats they had may be numbered. It didn't completely erase her agitation towards him, but it certainly made the want of cursing him lessen.

Remus flinched as he got that out, but Sirius quickly jumped in and soothed them all with a smug smile, "oh please, those numbskulls couldn't find the broad side of a barn. There's no way they're going to find me."

"You're confidence is instilling," James muttered, unable entirely to stop his leg twitching in agitation.

Ron scoffed at the idea, saying that news would be plastered all over the papers.

"And there's that," Harry sighed, trying to show that had comforted him a lot more than it had. He really didn't like to think of Sirius being captured, it set him on edge in the worst way, though thankfully he wasn't getting any kind of feeling about this. So this must mean it never happened to him, right?

Harry agreed for now, and went about packing away his stuff, most of which were his new school books and some supplies Mrs. Weasley had gotten him while he was away, grateful she'd remembered his potion ingredients as he'd been running low on some.

Lily just couldn't seem to erase a frown from her face this chapter, the expression only increasing as she got her own shot of envy at Molly doing all of this for her son. She'd have loved nothing more than for the simple task of going to Diagon Alley for her son while he and his father went to that Cup, and this little reminder it had been someone else smarted more than she'd been expecting it to with her current mood.

Ron was at his own trunk, and made a disgusted noise of surprise as he pulled out a maroon dress with lacy cuffs.

That was such a random thing that Remus finally broke the bad vibe of the room with a snort of mirth, all five of them cracking a real smile at Ron for some deranged reason being handed a lacy dress-robe.

Molly entered at that moment with some last minute clothes for them, and Ron tried to hand the dress to her, saying he'd gotten something of Ginny's by mistake, but Molly corrected that it was for Ron, his new dress robes. Ron yelped in shock, and Molly said that's what their school supplies list had said they'd need this year.

"Wonder why," James said just a tad too loudly, hoping to keep on this laughing mood as long as possible. "Think Hogwarts is hosting a dance?"

Harry felt a buzz ring through him, somehow knowing his dad wasn't too far off, but also getting the impression it wasn't an event he was fond of.

"I think it would be a nice idea," Lily couldn't help a little smile now, warming to the idea the more she spoke. "Perhaps a Valentine's day thing, I always said Hogwarts should indulge in more school events."

"From memory, every time they've tried, it's been a disaster," Remus snickered. "I've heard tale of this one time they tried a school play over some fairytale novel, that didn't end well."

"Won't know until Harry gets there," Sirius cut in, perhaps still being a little more surely then was called for, but still too agitated to admit it.

Lily shot him another glare, she had been trying to play nice, but clearly Remus took that as a hint to move on now while he still could.

Ron was still balking at the material, stating he'd never wear a thing like this! Molly cut him off by saying everyone wore them, his own father had some.

"Just like that eh?" James raised a brow in surprise, forcing some good mood at Sirius whether he wanted it or not. "I'd like to see that, I'm sure seeing his father in lace would make Ron feel better."

Harry gave a happy laugh at the image, while Sirius did crack a smile for James's benefit.

Ron grumbled he'd show off his bum before he put that on.

"That'll be a day at Hogwarts," Remus snickered.

Mrs. Weasley snapped he was being silly, Harry had gotten some too.

Causing Sirius to really laugh this time, along with the other three, while Harry went beat red in surprise and fear for what this could mean.

Harry began digging through his stuff in surprise, but came up with something much closer to his school uniform, except it was dark green.

"Which is how most dress-robes look," James cackled. "So I don't know what was running through Molly's head with Ron in mind."

The smile trickled off of Lily just a bit though, not having to think hard on why the idea of Molly picking out that for Harry would give her a pang of sadness.

Ron saw it and snapped why he hadn't gotten something that looked more like that, and Molly couldn't help a faint blush as she said she hadn't a lot of choosing on her budget for Ron's.

Causing all of them to stop smiling at once. It wasn't so funny now that they realized that.

Harry looked away in shame, knowing he'd happily split all his money with the Weasleys,

"Wish I'd just done it, they couldn't argue the point once it's in there," Harry muttered, fidgeting in place.

but he knew they would never take it.

"That's why you don't ask permission," James smirked.

Ron snapped he refused to wear his, and Mrs. Weasley snapped he could just go ahead naked then. Asking Harry to make sure he got a picture, she needed a laugh!

"It's nice to see Molly with a sense of humor," Sirius sighed.

She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her, and at that moment Pigwidgeon began choking on a too large treat. Ron was grumbling that everything he owned was rubbish as he went to go unstick his beak.

Remus closed the book uneasily, looking between Sirius and Lily like he still expected a bomb to go off, being as clear and silent as he could the chapter was over, then looking longing at the door like he wanted to make a run for it while he could.

HPHPHPHP

Forewarning you guys now, the next chapter won't actually be a chapter, but an actual argument between Lily and Sirius about the house-elf topic. I set it up to much to just have them keep avoiding it, and since it keeps coming up so much in this book I decided I'd get their views up and as clear as possible now.

Thank you all as always for your endless support of this fic! No spoilers but, Oh My God The Cursed Child! I'm thinking about waiting until the next reading chapter and posting my opinion on it, or do you think that's a little cocky? Do you guys even really care what I think about it?

*Question offered by maana999. If you guys have any questions, even from one of the older books, or just something you'd like to point out and seen discussed, I implore you to say something, I love them all!

[letterboxd]

Dream Chasers.

Mark Harris and Alicia Malone—two of the hosts of this month’s TCM Film Festival—tell Jack Moulton about Nichols and May, West Side Story, classic lockdown discoveries, and the films that make you feel like everything has changed when you walk out of that cinema.

For a second year in a row due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the TCM Classic Film Festival is being hosted virtually. Its program screens across TCM and HBO Max from May 6 to May 9. The festival, which began in 2010, was held at Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the nearby Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, a move designed to allow classic movie fans to retread the footsteps of glitzy premieres from the glamorous past.

Ahead of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake, the festival opens with West Side Story’s 60th anniversary screening, featuring new and exclusive interviews by living legends Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn. The complete festival lineup includes classic programming and talent highlights, from Michael Douglas introducing his Best Picture-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Scorsese on Goodfellas, to a comedian-heavy table read of Edward D. Wood Jr.’s infamously bad Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Journalist and author Mark Harris, who published the biography Mike Nichols: A Life earlier this year, is presenting the 1996 American Masters documentary Nichols and May: Take Two, covering the Oscar-winning director’s legendary comic partnership with Elaine May. It features iconic sketches that will recontextualize the way you think about Nichols if you thought his career started with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate.

TCM host, feminist cinema expert, Australian expat and Letterboxd member Alicia Malone is also a presenter at this year’s festival. (She admits she’s slacking on her Letterboxd logging this year, but used it to track her viewings over lockdown, topping over 500 films.) Neither Harris nor Malone have been able to go to the cinema since they closed over a year ago, but both are eager to return to their local arthouses in Maine and the Upper West Side of Manhattan as soon as they’re ready.

We caught up with Harris and Malone shortly before the festival commenced for a classic edition of the Letterboxd Life in Film.

‘The Poseidon Adventure’ (1972).

What’s your fondest memory of seeing a film in the cinema? Mark Harris: This is embarrassing, but for me it’s The Poseidon Adventure. At the time, my parents were a bit stricter than other parents so the other kids were already getting to see so-called ‘adult’ movies. The Poseidon Adventure was the first ‘not-kids’ movie that I ever got to see in a theater and at the age of eight, I immediately thought ‘well, clearly this is the best movie of all-time’. Everything in it was new information to me, such as how adults talked to each other and Stella Stevens playing a prostitute—I had no idea what that was. I found it so scary, I believed everything I saw on the screen. The joy of taking in something I hadn’t seen before has never left me.

Alicia Malone: It would probably be seeing Amélie. I was living in Canberra but my older sister had moved to Sydney, which to me was the big smoke, I really wanted to live there when I grew up. I got to visit her by myself and stay in her flat which she was renting by herself and it seemed so cool. She took me to the local arthouse cinema where Amélie was playing and I was so swept away. I know that film gets a bad rap now for being overly sentimental and quirky, but I just felt like I was being seen. I had such a kinship with the character of Amélie because she’s a dreamer, always in her own head and that’s how I was. I was always comparing my life to movies and playing movie scenes in my head. I remember walking out of that cinema and it felt like everything had changed—the color was brighter, it was special.

MH: We have to talk Turner into an Amélie-Poseidon Adventure double-feature!

AM: What a double! That would be amazing.

John Garfield and Ida Lupino in ‘The Sea Wolf’ (1941).

Which classic films that you discovered during lockdown had a major impact on you? MH: I wanted to dive into some directors that I really didn’t know well so I started watching all the Luchino Visconti movies, because Italian cinema is not my strongest area. That was an incredibly rewarding experience. I also saw the big seven-hour Russian War and Peace, which completely blew my mind. Those were probably my big pandemic discoveries.

AM: Something I really loved was getting to do the TCM Star of the Month for John Garfield because he’s such an interesting character and was a pre-cursor to Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro and those types of method actors. I’d seen him in various films—such as The Postman Always Rings Twice—but I’d never sat down to watch a lot of his filmography and learn more about his personal story. To see films like The Sea Wolf and Body and Soul, I really gained a newfound respect for him as an actor. You can see some of the beginnings of that kind of tough-guy, everyday-man archetype with a brilliant actor putting his emotions right there on his sleeve.

MH: I should also say that the Women Make Movies Festival was huge for me. All those movies are on my DVR and I’m still going through them and discovering them. I recorded everything and that was and continues to be a gigantic education for me.

AM: Yes! Thanks for that reminder. That was such a fulfilling experience to get to be one of the hosts on that with Jacqueline Stewart. What was so brilliant about Mark Cousins’ documentary is that there are so many clips of films that you think how have we not seen this? How are we not studying this film? How do we not know about this particular filmmaker?

Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in ‘Heartburn’ (1986).

If you could only pick one, which is the most overlooked film by Mike Nichols? MH: The most under-appreciated film to me is Heartburn. That was a real rediscovery when I was working on the book. I remember liking it, but I didn’t remember how sharp the performances were, how funny the comedy was, and the really acute social observations. I was so surprised when I was coming across the reviews—almost all of which were by men—and all of them said some version of “Why is he wasting his time with this? Why would he tell this woman’s story? Why doesn’t he tell the other half of the story?” Surely no-one would leave this character unless she gave him a good reason to leave! It was really shocking to me how dismissive and contemptuous a lot of the critical reaction was. I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to stick Heartburn under a lot of people’s noses because it’s a movie they seem to be really liking once they find it.

AM: I’m obviously not as deep into his filmography as Mark is, but I have to agree that Heartburn is a film that I can’t believe has been so overlooked. I came to that movie through Nora Ephron, who I just adore. [Heartburn is adapted from a semi-autobiographical novel by Ephron.] I rewatched it recently and I was blown away by it. Of course, Meryl Streep is amazing, but just getting to be in those characters’ worlds again and watching it after I had listened to the audiobook—which features the voice of Meryl Streep—about a year ago added a whole new experience. I loved how in her book how she has all these recipes dotted through it that you see in the movie as well.

MH: That’s one of the great audiobook readings of all time. It’s great to listen to [Streep] do that.

John Cassavetes and Peter Falk in ‘Mikey and Nicky’ (1976).

Where do you recommend film lovers start with Elaine May? MH: It’s only a four-movie body of work as a director so I think it’s perfectly fine to go in chronological order. A New Leaf is fantastic and feels 100 percent her. You really get a great deal of her sensibility in that movie. I would just start there and go to The Heartbreak Kid and then to Mikey and Nicky, which is not the place to start but is a fascinating movie, and then you’ll be ready for Ishtar.

AM: See, I would say Mikey and Nicky straight out of the gate.

MH: Really?

AM: I love subverting expectations of what a female director can do and that is such a masculine movie. It’s a film that you wouldn’t expect for a female director to make. I love the back and forth, the rapport between [Cassavetes and Falk]. I find it really compelling and exciting every time I see it. So I say, go hard, go in with Mikey and Nicky then, yeah, A New Leaf and The Heartbreak Kid, but maybe skip Ishtar.

Iconic comedy duo Elaine May and Mike Nichols.

Thinking of Nichols fleeing to New York City from Germany, and Alicia moving to Hollywood from Australia, which ‘American Dream’ film resonates with you the most? AM: This answer is going to sound quite cheesy since it was a recent film: La La Land. I understand all the criticism about it, I agree with it, but I don’t care. I feel like it was made for me as a redhead in Hollywood, chasing her dream, and coming up against all the obstacles. I also love Singin’ in the Rain, which I know is not necessarily strictly about the American Dream but is about Hollywood in general. That is a film that really started the idea of moving to Hollywood as a young kid. It’s the idea of a magical place where you could do anything and make your dreams come true and have dignity—always dignity.

MH: This time I’m going to go hard and dark and say the first title that occurred to me, which is The Godfather: Part II. It’s a great immigrant story, though it’s a strange version of the American Dream. The whole saga is about coming to America, becoming an American, and deciding what American values are.

AM: I should say that during our TCM Film Festival on HBO Max, we have a section on immigrant stories. We have America, America, which is a great one by Elia Kazan, and Stranger Than Paradise, which I would recommend as well. It’s a warped view of the American Dream but I love the way they think they get rich and all their dreams can come true. Also Black Legion, which is a darker version of the immigrant story with Humphrey Bogart going to the darker side of ‘foreigners should not take American jobs’.

MH: I’ll just throw in a plug for another Mike Nichols movie, Working Girl. He really saw that as an immigrant story—the first shot is of the Statue of Liberty, even though they’re [emigrating] from Staten Island! I think Mike thought it was as distant of a land as the old country, I’m not sure he spent a lot of time on Staten Island.

Katharine Hepburn in ‘Woman of the Year’ (1942).

What are some of your other problematic faves? The classics we acknowledge have not aged well, but you love anyway. AM: I think My Fair Lady is one of those. I’m a sucker for make-over movies despite all of their problematic ways of showing how women need to change if you don’t fit into the mold and you should sand down all your edges. But I get worked up in the whole transformation myth and making your life better. Even though it’s got Audrey Hepburn and you want to see Julie Andrews in that role, My Fair Lady is still one that I enjoy and I can see all of the problems with it.

Another one, that we featured during our Reframed series on TCM, was Woman of the Year, which is a great example of one of those women’s pictures that, as Professor Jeanine Basinger has pointed out, is so empowering for most of the movie and then in the last five minutes it undoes everything. It’s still a great film to watch when you want to get ahead of feminism and see Katharine Hepburn in a wonderful role, but you just have to ignore the breakfast scene at the end.

MH: I was just talking the other day to some people about the movie Network, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, but if you look hard at Network, it’s very possible to read that as a story about a woman who can’t be a professional in a workplace without hollowing herself out and becoming sort of less-than-human. [Diana Christensen] is talked about terribly by the other characters and you’re supposed to learn a hard lesson about what a monster an ambitious woman can become and that does not hold up well. It’s also a movie that features some of the wittiest dialogue and some of the greatest performances of any movie of the 1970s and I’m always going to love it for that.

AM: That’s such a trope, isn’t it? The ice-cold career woman.

MH: Right, and whoever did it better than…

AM, MH: Faye Dunaway!

Alicia Malone, Mark Harris.

Which coming-of-age movie character did you find the most relatable? AM: For me, it’s Velvet Brown played by Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet. I watched that over and over as a child when I was obsessed with horses. It was so inspiring as a young girl to see another young girl chasing her dreams—pretending she’s a boy that doesn’t speak English to win the Grand National—particularly at the time when I grew up in the 1980s, when so many of those films for kids were about young boys achieving their dreams.

MH: Haven’t seen it in a long time, but the Peter Yates movie Breaking Away meant a lot to me when I was a kid. The idea of chasing something that means something to you but trying to reconcile what your parents thought about it, and how to balance your own dreams with the expectations other people had for you. I think that’s a really lovely movie.

I still think about those performances by Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earl Haley, and of course Barbara Barrie and Paul Dooley as the parents. That movie landed right in my heart the first time I saw it. I’m almost afraid to go back now, I don’t want it to have turned into one of my problematic faves! I want it to be one of my faves.

If we could gift every Letterboxd member two hours of HBO Max to discover one film from this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival lineup, which film would you want it to be? (My pick is Bless Their Little Hearts.) AM: A film that I just adore is Cléo From 5 to 7 by Agnès Varda. She was working in the French New Wave and arguably made the first movie ever in the French New Wave. It’s one of those great movies that is close to real time as possible—it should be Cléo From 5 to 6:30 really, because it’s an hour and a half. It’s so inventively shot and edited. I’ve done the walk that she did in Paris, I’ve tried to map that out and copy Cléo. I want more people to see it and discover it.

MH: My husband [playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner] recently finished writing a new version of West Side Story for Steven Spielberg that’s going to come out at the end of the year. I think I would like to gift everybody the first version of West Side Story, which opens the festival, because you have to start there. It’s a beautiful movie and I think it’s a really instructive thing to see how this story was told in 1961 versus how it’s going to be told in 2021. Also, it’s two-and-a-half hours so if we’re only gifting people two hours… they’re not going to see the ending and they’re going to have to go to the new one to find out what happens!

Related content

Follow Mark Harris, Alicia Malone and TCM on Twitter for updates on TCM Classic Film Festival 2021

Watch the TCMFF West Side Story cast reunion, May 6 at 6pm ET

A Letterboxd list of all the films mentioned in this interview

Follow Festiville for all Letterboxd festival coverage

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

[ernmark]

in the "Juno was still a Cop" au, how were they going to beat miasma? Telepathic and indestructible seem like an impossible combination. (i'm not asking for a whole chapter I am just. very curious)

I’ve been struggling with this final chapter for so long because I didn’t know how to manage it in a way that would be narratively satisfying without doing a lot of work on my end. What can I say, endings are hard.

The end result wound up being 3k and a bit difficult to write, and I don’t think I was physically capable of really pulling it off until I was back in a more comfortable place, writing-wise. I think doing the fanfics that I have been this month has been a huge help in getting me back to that place. 

Thank you so much for your patience. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

I have the thief drop me off at the edge of town before he takes Engstrom and Valencia to the hospital.

It takes some convincing– he keeps insisting that I go with them– but this is the way it has to be. Besides, I’m about to have someone a whole lot more competent than one of the city’s doctors to patch me up.

As soon as I’m out of the car, I look away from it until the sound of its engine is long gone. I couldn’t say which way it went, or which hospital they’re going to. I know it won’t matter much– if Dark Matters wants to corroborate my story, they won’t have much trouble finding the thief.

Hopefully it won’t come to that. 

My comms doesn’t have the number coded into it, but it doesn’t matter. I memorized it years ago, for the nights when ma kicked me out for the night and I had to call Sasha to come let me sleep on her couch. I know she still uses it: Mick dialed it once when he was drunk and in trouble, and the call actually went through. She was furious, of course. She said the line was for emergencies only– by which she meant, just in case some detective found her sister’s body and needed to get in touch. Well, this is an emergency.

The call goes through. No one answers, but I know she’s listening.

“Hey, Sasha. I don’t know where the hell I am right now, but I need one of your buddies with the sunglasses to come find me.”

I’m still trying to explain the situation on the silent comms when a Dark Matters transport lands beside me and two bespectacled goons named Agent usher me inside. 

For hours I’m poked and prodded and interrogated. My clothes are confiscated and I’m swabbed for dozens of samples of genetic material– both mine and the Martian goo that’s crusted on my skin. While I speak, my interrogator is handed a tablet, and I can see security footage from the hotel reflected in their glasses. 

The agent’s face is stony and expressionless as they watch Miasma’s arms elongate and twist. I can’t tell if they already knew about all this or if their training is just that good.

“Stay here,” they say with a cool nod. “A medic will be with you shortly.”

And then I’m back on the street, smelling of antiseptic and feeling a little bit like a rabbit that’s been through one of those catch-and-release vans. 

I sway and manage to catch myself against an alley wall before I slide to the ground. 

What the hell am I supposed to do now? I’m in some strange city in the middle of nowhere. I have no money for a cab, and even if I did, I don’t know where it would take me. My apartment? Pretty sure that’s either an active crime scene or picked clean by my precinct. Rita’s? No, the last thing I want to do is get her mixed up with Dark Matters and Miasma any more than she already is. That hotel I shared with the thief?

My chest hurts, and not just from the stitches. 

He’s probably halfway across the solar system by now. I hope he is. I don’t think I could stand the thought of him in Dark Matters’ crosshairs. The best I can ask for is that I never see him again.

The thought might be bittersweet, but right now all I can feel is numb.

I don’t know how long I sit in that alley, staring at nothing, my knees hugged against my chest. People pass by without a second glance. The sun sets and the only light that reaches me is the rippling blue of the city’s dome. A car pulls up to the alley. A door opens, and footsteps approach. 

I don’t look up. I don’t have it in me to wonder if their motive is charity or a mugging. I’m so tired.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting for me all this time.” The thief’s voice is gentle and chiding. “You hadn’t moved in so long that I thought you’d lost your comms.”

Slowly I look up, staring blankly at him. He shouldn’t be here. She should be somewhere out across the galaxy by now. He should have left me behind.

I can’t bring my eyes to focus on his face, but he reaches down to cup my cheek. His hand is warm and gentle against my skin, and right then all I want is to cling to him.

“How would you like to sit somewhere more comfortable?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer before he helps me to my feet. I’ve been sitting on the ground so long that my legs are asleep, and they buzz painfully as the blood comes back into my extremities. It’s hard to think of much of anything as he helps me into the passenger seat and climbs in on the other side.

“Miss Valencia is expected to make a full recovery, give or take a few fingers,” he says, answering the question I was afraid to ask. “Engstrom made sure she’ll be receiving the best of care.”

“That’s four people who made it out alive,” I say hollowly. “How many do you think were in the Oasis? A couple hundred?” The thought has been swirling in my head for hours, but finally it comes back in full force, hot and acidic in my mouth. “How many of them are dead right now?”

In my mind’s eye I can still see the bodies littering the floor, the walls sprayed with blood, the gore scattered across the lobby. I can still smell it past the antiseptic, past the thief’s cologne. 

“Juno.” He leans in, turning my head until I have to look at him. “You did everything you could.”

“I told them to stay put,” I croak. “I told them not to run when they had the chance. If she–” 

“If she did anything at all to them, then that is her responsibility. You did all you could with what information you had. No one could have known what was going to happen, love.”

“I should have,” I insist. “I saw she wasn’t going down. I knew something was wrong–”

“And you think the obvious conclusion was that she was some sort of otherworldly monster?” His hands are on my face again, cradling my trembling jaw. “You couldn’t have known what she was. No one could. You did everything you could. It isn’t your fault, love. It isn’t your fault.”

I don’t know when the tears start. I haven’t cried since I lost Ben, and suddenly I feel like I’m making up for lost time. I’m crying for a hotel full of people– and for the ones who came before them. How many mostly-innocent people did I leave to die? How many people could I have saved? How many monsters like Miasma did I let run free just because they had the money and the power for a bribe? How much blood is on my hands? I sob like a little kid, and the thief just holds me and strokes my back and kisses my forehead. 

There’s nothing left in me once the tears are gone, but it’s a different kind of emptiness than before. I feel wrung out and exhausted, but a little more human than I’ve felt in a long, long while.

He kisses me one last time. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a good night’s sleep. Care to join me?”

I give a small nod. “I’d like that.”

———

And just like that, I’m back where I started, give or take a few disasters: back in a hotel with the thief, soaking in his presence until he starts to drown out the guilt and anxiety that I can’t escape anywhere else. 

I know his patterns by now. He’s biding his time, laying low until the heat wears off and he can make his next move. I try not to think about what that means for me, but he doesn’t let me avoid it too much longer.

He’s browsing through the screen of his comms, settling into the familiar patterns of research.

“The Kobasha founding festival is next week,” he says when he feels my eyes on him. “If we leave tomorrow, we can make it through customs in time for the fish lantern ceremony. It really is a beautiful sight to see.” He hasn’t looked up from the screen, but he does now. His expression is cool and casual, but there’s a note of dread under the facade. “That is, if you still intend to go to Tau Ceti.” 

I swallow, but it catches in my throat. “That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“You can always change your mind.”

“To what?”

“Anything you like.”

I don’t know what I’d like. Right now, the thought of going somewhere else and starting over from scratch feels overwhelming. I don’t know where I’d start or what I’d do. 

When I joined the police academy, I still went home to Ben and Mick and even Ma. When I left Oldtown, I knew the rest of my class at the academy, the higher-ups who took me under their wing, the designated partners that I trained under until I was at their level-- and even then I always had the option of going back to Oldtown when I needed to feel something more familiar.

But in Tau Ceti, I’ll be alone. Just me and my guilt and whatever fake paperwork the thief leaves me with. And sure, maybe it’s better that way, but it scares the hell out of me.

“Juno.” I don’t know how many times he’s said my name. I don’t snap out of my own spiraling thoughts until he lays his hand on my cheek. “You don’t have to decide just yet.”

“You were already going to leave,” I say dully. “I can’t make you stay any longer because of me.” 

He leans down and kisses me-- once on the forehead, and once, gently, on the lips. “Then come with me.”

I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know what to do. I want to go with him, but there’s so much that can go wrong, so much that I can still ruin, so much--

I don’t have the chance to think much more about it before I hear a low, dry voice, like stone rolling over sand. “There you are.”

He whirls to face the hotel door, a plasma knife already in his hand, poised to put himself between Miasma and me. But all the noble intentions in the world can’t stop her.

Windows graded to withstand acid rains and sandstorms shatter as long tendrils-- more tentacles than arms-- fly into the room in a blur of motion. The thief slashes at the appendages, and I can hear the sizzle of plasma on flesh, but I can’t see it. My eyes are squeezed shut, my hands are caught on the tentacle wrapped around my neck, my heels are dragging on the floor as she pulls me across the room, and suddenly her desert-cold breath is on my cheek.

“Juno!” The thief rushes to the shattered window. His glasses are askew, his face is splattered with ichor. 

“Did you really think you could steal from me, thief?” Miasma rasps.

“Let him go,” the thief cries. “Please.”

“The Purus Egg,” she says. 

He steps out of the window, his hands open, palms toward her.

Stop it, you idiot, I want to shout at him. Run while you can! But her tentacle-arm is too tight against my throat. My lungs are fighting just to get a trickle of air. There’s nothing left in me to form a shout.

“I’ll bring it to you,” he says, walking closer. He’s talking to her but his gaze is fixed on me. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

From the corner of my eye, I spot a glint of black. I feel her shift against me, reacting to my thoughts.

No, I think frantically. Please, don’t do what she’s asking. She’s just going to kill you when she’s done. Run, just get out of here. 

She rattles in disgust and shakes me. “Shut up,” she snarls. Her tentacle cuts off all my air, and I can feel my thoughts start to spiral.

But she can’t stop me from thinking them.

Don’t get yourself killed over me, you beautiful idiot. You never should have come back for me. I can’t live with myself if something happens to you. I love you, dammit.

The thought rocks me to my core, but I can’t let up now. More flashes of black glint at me from above.

I love you, thief. I love you so much I can’t stand it. I want to go off into space with you. I want to wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life. I want to make stupid bets with you and hatch crazy plans together. I don’t want to go to Tau Ceti if it means you’re going to leave me. Please don’t die. Please. I love you.

She’s shaking me now, snarling for me to shut up, but I just think louder, harder, practically screaming it inside my head. 

The thief runs toward me, his mouth open. I stretch out my hand toward him, silently begging him to stay away.

And then the first flash streaks across the sky like a shooting star, and the world is filled with a sickening sizzle and the sour-sweet smell of burning ooze.

Miasma shrieks and flings away, but she’s caught by another laser from another direction altogether. And then another. More flashes of hard light come down around her, carving through her like she’s made of nothing more than smoke. She regenerates almost as fast as they can hit her-- almost. But dozens of Dark Matters agents emerge from behind their cover, the muzzles of their blasters flashing in endless volleys. The tentacle that has my throat is severed, and I drop to the ground, gasping for air. The thief is at my side in an instant, his arms wrapping around me in a frantic hug. As he drags me away, the ring of Dark Matters closes around Miasma, and her howls of rage go silent.

-----------

For the second time that day, I’m cleaned and disinfected and bandaged by a medic in black. The thief doesn’t take his eyes off me even when the medic cleans the broken glass out of his own skin. 

“You knew they were coming,” he murmurs when the medic steps out of the room. “This was your plan all along.”

“I didn’t think it would go down like this.” My voice is barely a croak. “But yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell--” He stops, and understanding settles on his face. “You didn’t want her to read the plan in my thoughts.”

“She almost read them in mine.” What I thought instead is still ringing in my skull. I meant it, in all my panic. I still do.

He hums. “That’s why you didn’t want me to tell you, isn’t it.” He leans closer and wraps an arm gently around my shoulders. 

It isn’t, actually. I only thought of my plan in the car, before I had him drop me off. At the time I was almost as scared of being in love with him as I was of Miasma. Now, though...

The door opens. The thief doesn’t drop his arm from around my shoulders as a familiar dark figure steps through the door.

“Juno,” she says, nodding at me. She gives a second nod to the thief, but doesn’t address him directly. “I’d like to thank you for bringing Doctor Miasma to our attention. You’ve helped us neutralize a major threat to the Solar System.”

Neutralize?

The thief catches that wording, too. “You haven’t killed her.”

“That’s confidential,” she says coolly.

“Sasha--” I start to get up, but I’m too dizzy to break out of the thief’s grip, and he pulls me back down. 

The hard edges of her face soften slightly. 

“Frankly, I don’t know if something like her can be killed,” she says, her voice low. “Even if she could, she may in fact be one of a kind. Destroying that kind of a specimen would be a waste of a potentially limitless resource. Especially given her abilities.”

And I realize exactly what I’ve done. 

Miasma can shapeshift, and regenerate, and read minds. If they can figure out how-- if they figure out how to replicate it in themselves-- if they can make their own agents into something like her--

My head is swimming. The thief draws me close against his chest.

“Thank you, Agent,” he says curtly. “Are we being detained?”

She looks at him evenly, and then at me. “No. You’re free to go.” 

“Thank you.” He helps me to my feet, one arm still holding me close. “If you would be so kind as to show us the way out?”

She leads us out of the labyrinthine halls of the headquarters, and the thief keeps me from falling over. My mind is elsewhere, forming plans. I can call Rita, ask her to keep an eye on Dark Matters, let me know if they make any breakthroughs. And then we can... I don’t even know. We’ll figure it out when it comes.

But later. When my head has stopped spinning and I’ve had a chance to sleep.

I slide back into the moment when I feel the thief’s hands on me. “Didn’t know almost dying made you so frisky,” I say. “I would have done it more often.”

“And what if I told you that I was most aroused by bed rest and long recoveries?”

I scrape out a laugh. “Kinky, but I’ll give it a try. Any bugs on me?”

“None that I’ve found.” He’s patting himself down now, but he seems satisfied. “How are you feeling, love?”

“Like I just went through a dryer with a load full of bricks.” I hesitate. “Listen-- about Tau Ceti...”

He glances at me, his expression soft and resigned. “You don’t have to make a decision right now, Juno.”

“I know. But I did anyway.” I fold his hand in mine. “I don’t want to go there without you.”

He smiles gently. “I told you I would show you around, didn’t I?”

“No.” God, it’s hard to say. “I want to go with you. Not just to the festivals. Everywhere. I want to see the whole galaxy with you. I--” I’m cut off by a hacking cough. That was too much talking too soon. And without the momentum of my own clumsy words, I can hear just how stupid I sound. 

“I’m in love with you,” I whisper, and then I manage a soft, strangled laugh. “I’m in love with you, and I don’t even know your name.”

And he leans close against me until his lips brush the curve of my ear, and I can feel the warmth of his smile. “It’s Peter Nureyev.”

[70slovergirl]

Jimmy Page Fanfic

Hello, thank you for sticking with me down this road! I have all sorts of plans for this story, so I hope to keep you entertained.

I also wanted to give special thanks to the lovely @ritacaroline. I know my grammar is not great and she was so so nice to offer me help correcting some of my monstrous mistakes. She’s also a really great person overall so thank you for that Rita. I recommend checking out her Jimmy Page Fanfic, it’s called ‘In the Light’ and I’m personally hooked on the story.

P.S. The next chapter involves the concert and I know we all love a good Zep gig!

Chapter 5

There was a ringing that threatened to split my head in two. I’m never drinking again, I thought, cracking my eyes open to find the source of the incessant sound. The room was still heavily disorganized but splendidly bathed in a golden light that suggested it was still early in the day. The noise suddenly ceased, and I slumped back to bed, defeated. Those damn sequins on my dress had dug deeply into my skin, making me itchy and suddenly so uncomfortable that I couldn’t get back to sleep.

And then the strident ring began again.

“For Christ’s sake.” I muttered against the pillow, searching for the cherry-colored telephone on top of the bedside table. “Yes?” My annoyance was clear in my voice when I answered.

“Ms. Rayne, this is the hotel receptionist. You had a call, and the caller said you should get back as soon as possible. The number is here in the lobby, in case you would like to drop by.”

“Yeah, I’ll get back to them after lunch.” I yawned, my eyes already closed from the effort it took to reach for the phone.

“It’s four in the afternoon, Ms. Rayne.” Her stylized, almost robotic voice echoed back at me, and her words ran down my spine like a bucket of icy water.

Shiiiiit.

I literally ran to the bathroom in an effort to speed the process of making myself presentable. As the tap released a shower of warm, therapeutic water, I tried to count in my head the number of shots I had taken last night along with John Bonham, but just couldn’t come up with a plausible one. After that encounter with the aloof Page, I had gone back to the table full of the Zeppelin personnel joining the three remaning members. Whatever happened after that is not exactly clear.  

Racing back to my luggage, I rummaged through for something that didn’t require too much thinking. I was supposed to spend Saturday creating a profile on the band members, not sleeping off my colossal hangover. Man, I should be named Employee of the Month. I finally came across a pine colored maxi dress that sported a thin halter neck. I paired it along with some round, orange-tinted glasses to try to hide my bloodshot, hungover eyes, and I was out the door.

My feet followed firstly the trail to the lobby, and I finally placed a face on to the lady whose call had awoken me. She was already busy answering the phone, but happily handed me a piece of paper with a scribbled number. I didn’t recognize the digits, and there was no name nor address whatsoever. Nevertheless, I walked towards the telephone for guest calls and dialed it.

“Hi, this is Venus Rayne, you were trying to reach me?” I greeted as soon as the repeated tone ceased.

“Yes, Ms. Rayne, this is Ben Fong from Rolling Stone Magazine.” I burst out laughing, doubling over and holding my stomach.

“Yeah right, that’s a good one.” Giggling, I tried muffling the sound as I had gotten dirty looks from some guests hanging around. “Listen dude, I have a massive hangover, and this is certainly not helping.”

“Mr. Callaghan must’ve given me the wrong number. Are you not a journalist for Muse?”

Oh fuck.

“Uhhh, yeah. Yes, I mean.” I facepalmed myself, begging the earth to swallow me whole.

“…Great. Listen, you’re with Led Zeppelin for the weekend, right?”

“Yes.”

“We’re doing this Concerts You Can’t Miss this Summer piece and would really like to include Zep on it. And, you know, since today is their very first, we thought we might get your perspective on the matter. 150 words. What do you say?”

I was at loss for words. Being included on this particular magazine has been a goal of mine, and even if it was only an insignificant part, it would surely look good on my resume.

“Yes.” I finally let out with absolute confidence.

“Good. Just one more thing, this is due tomorrow six am sharp. It needs to go through the editor’s table before being published. I understand you have another deadline for Sunday. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Fuck yes.” Ben Long chuckled on the other side of the line as I fist bumped the air. The opportunities were lining themselves up for me, and I was not going to be afraid to take them. I sent my regards to the magazine’s team and hung up, feeling victorious.

“Oi, girlie.” I knew by the brusque voice that it belonged to none other than Mr. Grant, and I turned around to greet his sleepless face. “Breakfast.” He said, pointing towards the direction he was walking. The large manager didn’t stop to chat, and I trailed behind him, hoping to get on his good side.

“Tough night?” I asked, perhaps too chirpily.

“Fun night, Miss Rayne. I am surprised you’re up this early, considering the events that occurred.” My cheeks burned at his comment, but he seemed pleased, as though I had somehow earned his approval by drinking half the bar. “Hey chap, did you manage to wake them up?”

He was speaking to a roadie who rushed by with a distressed look painted on his face, hands deep in his pockets. “Bonham threw a pair of drumsticks at me, but they’re up.” With that remark the boy was gone, and I glanced at Mr. Grant to find him nodding.

“That sounds like him.” He muttered almost to himself and I contributed a chuckle.

We finally entered a deserted room, probably destined for reunions, and especially closed for the band. The table was filled edge to edge with all sorts of foods: fried bacon, scrambled and poached eggs, trails among trails of diverse breads, grilled veggies and fresh fruit. There was also champagne and orange juice for mimosas, along with bottles of heavier alcohol. Despite the fact there was literally no one, the grumpy manager asked me to take a seat and left without a beat.

I was buzzing, first as a result of the recent news and second, because it didn’t really matter I had overslept. Apparently a four pm breakfast was only natural for bands, and I took a mental note for future events. The possibilities of accompanying other rock groups on tour seemed suddenly reachable, and I found myself on cloud nine.

As I was reaching for some champagne to celebrate, two scantily dressed girls with long chestnut-colored hair entered the room, and I immediately identified them as groupies. Robert’s, I thought, deciding the best would be to simply ignore them.

“So, who did you come in with?” One of them asked me, and I only glared back. It was then that I noticed both of the girls shared my same hairstyle: wavy dark hair with a middle parting. It was certainly a strange coincidence, but I didn’t put too much thought into it, downing my mimosa.

A freshly showered Robert Plant then strutted in, his wet blond tresses stuck to his neck. His characteristic jolly smile was shining through despite the hangover I knew he too had to be sporting. The singer walked directly for me, obvious to the excited groupies that fought to get his attention.

“Really, Robert? You spent all night with those chicks and you can’t manage a hello?” I asked him, discreetly pointing their way with my slim, champagne flute. This produced a confused expression on the rock star’s face.

“Oh, they do not belong to me.” He shrugged bewildered, and without a care reached for my glass, drinking the leftover. There was a sudden blow, and in came the boisterous John Bonham, his face obviously tired but enthusiastic. As soon as he caught sight of me, the drummer came sprinting towards my seat.

“Bloody hell, Venus. That’s what I call getting hammered.” I high fived my new drinking buddy, and we ended cracking up over the ridiculous conversations we had last night while totally inebriated. “I don’t even know how this wanker could perform.” Bonham howled, referring to Robert and his league of unclaimed groupies.

“Actually, Planty here claims they aren’t his.” I responded while both band members devoured plates of traditional English breakfast. The drummer looked up at my statement, slightly puzzled.

“Well, they’re certainly not Jonesy’s, and Page goes for blondes.” Some peculiar ideas began popping up in my mind after Bonham’s remark, but I waved them away as pure speculation. “Now that I think about it, where was Jimmy last night?”

Like summoned by the mere sound of his name, the elusive player burst through the door and the entirety of the table fell silent.  Try as I might, I couldn’t resist stealing a curious look at him and at the way his hair released tiny drops of water that slid well into his open shirt. I was suddenly thirsty and knew no amount of alcohol could satisfy it.

Jimmy Page took a quick look at the members of the makeshift breakfast, until his eyes finally settled on me. I shifted nervously at the intensity of his glare, as his fellow partners followed the trail of their guitarist’s gaze to my seat. A beat later and he was gone without uttering a single word, both groupies following quickly behind him. Well, that answers that.

“What did you do?” Robert and John questioned in unison, shocked at our exchange but very much amused.  I shrugged and sank deeper into my chair, still dazed by the brief appearance of the British God. Or Devil, that suits him so much better.

“I’ll investigate.” The singer stated and rushed out of his seat laughing. Bonham quickly followed, not before congratulating me on managing to piss off the reclusive Jimmy. It didn’t seem like an accomplishment to me.

[marika-kurohime]

Tales of Vesperia: “Yuri is The Morning Star “her” self as “she” should be” theory (11/26 complete)

First of all, sorry for BAD English here.

Previously I’ve tried to post this on youtube, but... here is the full version of it. 

 We all are confused at the moment by Tales of the Rays storyline and Vesperia’s postgame situation especially. 

It's crazy for NO JOKE. Let's do this. If you're fine to think of Vesperia as something simple with yaoi/yuri ships - for now you can STILL do so, but 

you have to see optional dungeons of this game: "Labyrinth of Memories" with Kratos Aurion in it and "the Necropolis of Nostalgia" (Patty got the key to start that VERY HARD and annoying dungeon (enter is in Zaude) which explains the whole "Сhildren of the Full Moon" thing and this world's past), open up all the skits and so on... It'll rise A LOT of questions, believe me.

This is where you can read this 

I'm NOT fine with yaoi/yuri ships and there seems to be the one and only RIGHT way to understand all this mess, but it's crazy. 

I don't want to write the theory before we have at least some facts, So, I'll only warn you for now that: 

1)Yuri is with Raven ALL THE TIME in ALL worlds: Link, Asteria (chapter 4), even Rays where we have Estelle with us... you will read something... strange... (yeah... "strange" is a good word for it) between Yuri and RAVEN all the time. 

2) It seems that Yuri and Rita have some sort of connection to Iria's and Luka's (Tales of Innocence) god-powers. 

To sum this up: or this game is just plain and stupid or it has a different gender system. Think about this:

Rita's dresser scene, and also, how Yuri lived his life before and after his attempt to join the knights (some skits hinted this... and we got THIS dirty card of him for New Year)

I can't say any more right now, we all want some facts regarding, well, his gender, current behavior and his postgame relationship with Raven and Estelle,

 BUT one thing for sure. HE IS NOTHING close to what you'll expect of him even if you ship him and Flynn together. 

Maybe, from now on (Tales of The Rays arc 3) this line will be shown for the first time, I don't know... thanks to PXZ2 I'm afraid to know...

There is more to this.  In his True Knight outfit,

 he has pointy ears for some reason. 

And to top it all: so-called fanservice in the Rays' special anime just killed me on the spot.

NO NORMAL explanation for THIS. He is not only nothing even close to a human (half-elves included) and can BE confused with a woman as with Leon (Tales of Destiny) and his sister (Leon is only 16 years old ), ALL NORMAL men see Yuri THIS way at his... well he is 21 at the beginning of the game and 22+ by the end. 

No facts. They've been MESSING with us for two years before DE's worldwide release. And It gets waaaay more serious from now on... 

JUST LOOK at...him(???) from the God Eater collaboration trailer... 

No, no, no, I don’t think that I’m seeing things... 

And so, to make a long story short: 360 version was incomplete (or "censored" by Namco themselves is a better way to say it) to the point when you can't get this story at all. 

Are you sure you want to know more?... for a joke, it went tooooo far somewhere after we left Heracles, 

but what I'm reading now... makes me split my tea and think of dropping it all for good because of Yuri and Yuri alone. 

Tales of Asteria made it even worse. In chapter 4 we have 3 lines about returning memories to a person, who the character holds dear: Jude-Milla, Collette-Lloyd, AND Raven-Yuri... 

guess which one was mature, tragic and romantic the most?

And he wasn't called Yuri in the title of his Chapter. It was something like: "The fate of the Morning Star". Just like in the at least two tracks from OST of the original game. This and that one too. And who the hell is this so-called Morning Star??? 

Well... 

So... basically, the main character here is RAVEN. 

And it's a story how he got himself our dear "hell of a goddess" 

for a... 

sorry... for a friggin substitute of his lost love

 (and Yuri resembles her greatly to make it worse).

Tales of the Rays arc 2 was HELL of a read for me because of Yuri alone... 

He is living with Raven, нe worried sick for Flynn's wellbeing, 

he constantly shakes off Estelle on Rita...

FOR a friggin YEAR! Main Vesperia's story explains NOTHING 

of what you really need to know.

 You need to 100% clear this game only to get some dirty hints and a mind blow trying to put all this mess together.

 If you know Japanese, then Drama CD's help as well.

Update: And yes, THIS was some anniversary to add the fuel to the fire. And as I feared, it is NOT only Asteria’s problem for sure. 

So, we love Tales of Vesperia only because people do not bother to find out, what “VESPERia” means.

 “Vesper” means Venus (or Astar/Astarte, Morning (male form - Anunit)/Evening Star) GODDESS OF LOVE and justice,  yeah, yeah...

... and prostitution,

homosexual relationships and war and a lot more). Goddess, damn it...  

Remember this statue at the Baction Shrine?...

Update: actually all this mess isn’t just about him being who he is, the main problem is THIS map

which is clearly our Mother Earth and not their Terca Lumieres AT ALL! Add to this what The Morning Star himself tried to say in Project X Zone 2:

 Sooo... does it mean, that he got his reputation in our Earthly mythos simply living out his life to the fullest on some sort of “vacation trip” and is remembered by two names

(as Shamash and his twin sister Ishtar)? Daaaamn, 

as if Judith’s novel wasn’t bad (I mean great) enough...

And now goes our final mythos based theory: Yuri isn't exactly a goddess, he is just a very high-ranked and powerful anunnaki. And he has THIS level of mental disorder separating Shamash

( light: True Knight in the heart, kindness (love), and justice) 

“ His friend wasn't a knight, he was part of a guild. His friend didn't believe in "justice" and "virtue" but rather "resolution" and "morality". ” About Yuri from Flynn’s biography in the Tales of the Rays. 

Although often cynical, he has a strong sense of justice and possesses an earnest desire to aid the weak and the powerless. (c) Crosspedia PXZ2 (2015)

and Ishtar... 

sorry, not this one. Ishtar (Anunit, The Morning Star)

(dark: a whore to the bone, love (means sex) & war) parts of his personality. That means that both of "them" aren't whole and... 

well, it’s better to stop here for now and see how bad our Dark Venus with a hero syndrome:

will be from the point when... 

when “She” gets (regains?) “Her” full self-awareness...

*PXZ  Project X Zone (sorry, spelled it wrong, but I’m too furious, you see, to check small details. I hate so much I even had to write all this about MY favorite MALE character I mistook “HER” for... to begin with. Hate the very thought people still didn’t know WHOSE Anniversary it is. If Namco wouldn’t give proper explanations, or they will be worse than what we can assume now... well, I did everything I could for HIM... before all the HELL this body really is for

breaks out. because It’s impossible to continue like this

and Yuri himself already understood that even Flynn saw him in a different light for all his life.

Update:

and with a new skill like that (by-the-books Lightbringer to me), it all will be confirmed/over in a few months at best.

Gods!

...this is not fun even for me anymore. I'm starting to pity "her" for real. DE isn't even a remake, you know... 

It's PS3's remake but PS3 and 360 are NOT one and the same. What did we do to deserve this ten years after? (5 for me) ...Oh, what a mess. 

It can only be compared with Estelle's new dress. 

Screaming "dawn"+"bride" 100% Aya (as a silly child in her dreams to make it the worst situation possible for her for Aya has no info about her in the mythos so you can imagine on whom she is based on personality-wise from now on). 

And the whole Namco's Universe is Unus Mundus based. This much is obvious from Anima&Animus + Ix's-zerom connection thing as they have shown it. 

So... Vesperia's story so far (all with "probably" before every statement):

1) Something horrible happened to right-handed "HER" before he is shown left-handed 7 years old boy. (Luke and Schwann are both left-handed, Damuron, Raven, and Asch aren't).

2) Something horrible happened to HIM after the movie resulting in a second kinda split of what should be The MORNING part 

into what I call Shamash and Anunit "twins". Damn. 

3) Something truly horrible happened to "them" atop of Zaude for he has a blastia and that "survival" of his now....looks really fishy. 

4) And a TOTAL SHIT happened in the end atop of Tarquaron. for "their"'s body is Istar's avatar kinda thing and we got that Brave Vesperia "star" smashed in pieces, so it is a spirit now... and you can imagine what we have in the Rays in addition to “them” (total four of them: Shamash for Estelle, Nergal for Judith, Ishtar for Flynn and Anat for Raven... 

or even more) and “their” problems... This gonna be a once in a lifetime experience if our dear author is bold enough to drag ISTAR (Sirius star WOLF GOD) here to play the Fenrir's part not just our poor Anunit (Nanaiya) "girl" based on goddess Sakuya.

 And what in the world was 360th Yuri then who earned 8.5. years of love, respect and admiration of the fans worldwide before Claw bitch in Asteria ruined EVERYTHING “he” сould for him?  Who suffers so much from the mistreating he gets from everyone at their Dorms? 

Hah... just a half of something really close to Luke's kind of existence 

...without his own body. 

 This whole Rays "story" is a ONE BIG MESS meant to explain THIS. 

AND this gonna hit really hard even those of us who are well prepared because Duke’s event and info from the near future were unexpected and crazy enough for me to get shocked despite all this lore digging. Then I did even more lore digging and dropped it all for good after chapter 9 of FR arc. 

I just want to see how people will react if all the shit you just finished reading here about our favorite world and character

 will be proven as even HALF-right in the near future as the story in the Rays progresses. 

This still looks too simple for me. The real deal SURE is worse. I’m 100% positive only concept-wise mostly because of how he will look in GEREO’S world, 

because he doesn’t look human at all and the symbols on his outfit are clearly Istar’s. I’m not bold enough to write how I think the real story will turn out...

, but our CONCEPT-based theory is enough for me to drop it all until it is over... and remember HIM 

as he was AND by Shamash’s name only.

P.S. translated Rays’ screenshots are from Lol’s Youtube channel

[walq-chan]

Azanina short - fanfic : " Unfolding "

Hello everyone!! This mini fanfic had almost been an anonymous request (which I accidentally deleted while using my cell phone, for what I’m sorry >_

Although I wanted to rewrite almost all snb:vs, my idea was to create a narrative line for a specific episode; the escape from the “coliseum” and its unfolding.

So, please, roll the page to read the fanfic.

====// =============//================//============//=============

There was a really risky plan. For God’s blessing all parts of game had understood what he/she should do to scape. A battle followed by a second one, only to sneaking as rats , but saved, even “saved” meaning living in those dark and dirties  tunnels.

And after a plenty of discussions about be or not to be part of the new ( and they expected last) group of kingdom’s rewards, it was time for a third battle of the day ; convince a pround and arrogant demon he needed help to remove those slavery collar around his neck.

Generally most of people will be glad for assistance and welcome to any help.

But we are talking about Azazel.

Sure he would be in a bad mood, and, more obvious that ,it he would does  however necessary to make Nina’s assistance ( what he describes as inconvenient) a free sample of hell. Well, he didn't disappointed her. What did starts with a single neck turns and some hands slapped became a real war.

She’d promised herself that this would be the last attempt to get that damn leash off.

By now rational and delicate methods of persuasion had already gone to hell. She would remove that “accessory” even if she had to kill him for it. Or that he killed her in the process. After all, Nina just wanted to help. He did not need to be so annoying about it. And it was in this clash that they arrived at the present scene, without even realizing it.

Indeed, they two had been making so much noise conjuring and fighting to each other , who not only woke up everybody, but provide some distinct reactions  among the member’s group when they found them, completely frayed, hair and messy clothes, scratched and closer than recommended.

Well, the term “closer” may not define well, since being fully seated on a revolted and under protesting body was not part of  Nina’s plan.

Her arms was fully extended, firmly secured by hands larger than hers, in a frantic attempt to make her give up. Although forcing her weight made it possible to keep that flying calamity project almost quiet in place, being trapped and panting with fatigue did not help the “liberation” process.

In the end, the scene would even be comical if it had not been tragic and embarrassing before. And of course, it was the exactly moment they were found by the others.

When they were met by the other members, all they could do was receive a sigh of boredom from Rita, a distinctly ashamed expression from Kaisar and a malicious suggestion from Favaro to “find a room” since they were so excited. At least it seemed to be. Hard to say in the midst of so many laughs.

The realization of how embarrassing the situation might have had some effect, because all Azazel did when he finally had one of his horns grabbed and the neck pulled was a look of surprise and … shame ?!

Maybe, but for only a second, at last the next moment he had already turned his face, letting out a snort of irritation with his tongue.

His fingers drummed over his crossed arms in sheer irritation as the sandpaper made its way through the metal. Nina was focused on work, at the same time boiling in internal anger. She was in the least embarrassing position, standing between his legs, bent over, in order to reach the exact height at which she should cut the leash. And sweating. For work and for the newly discovered nervousness. Those purple eyes made her strangely uncomfortable. They measured her in minute detail, and they seemed capable of devouring you, body and soul, if only she could dare.

On the other side of the story, too, it was not easy. He could not remember the last time he had felt so uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the wounded pride, the proximity and warmth of the body of others, or what he feared, the sensitivity that that touch caused within him. Ahead of him, her delicate, panting and firm body. Her touch was provoking what he believed he would never  feel (again) for a human being: desire.

Yes, desire, as much as he did not want to admit it. Desire to reach out and find out if that skin was as hot as the breath that came to his body. This made him inebriated and at the same time extremely irritated. He moved his fingers impatiently, alternating to embrace himself as an attempt not to break with his own way of being. Unfortunately, other parts were not so easy to control. And that was the worry at the moment, for that would be by far the most embarrassing situation of his life in a long time.

On the other side, the sandpaper worked its final chords.

“I know you like this bondage and collars thing, but this one will not get you arrested again.” - she said.

The sentence ended under the sound of metal beating against the ground.

Free. Finally free from that pressure. The collar did not matter at this point, that closeness was all the discomfort he could think of.

In an abrupt movement, Azazel moved those delicate arms far from him. He was afraid of what he would do if he stayed there for much longer. He got up suddenly, without even saying "thank you”.

He heard a “You’re welcome, ok ?!” as he passed the entrance to the room, praying that she had not noticed how breathless he was.

Confused and angry, he headed straight for his own room, praying for the night would make him forget all insanity that day brought. His body, however, was hot and eager for contact, consuming his mind with a single name: Nina Drango.

[useyernamesteven]

A Green Eyed Monster (Trimberly Writings)

I was just thinking about this today and I’ve tossed the idea around for a while but I don’t think I’m going to write this one out so instead I present you this.

Summary: There’s something about Tommie Oliver that has Kim seeing red flags. Maybe it’s the way she jokes around with Zack, or helps Billy with all his inventions, or the way Jason seems to trust her almost instinctively. Or maybe it’s the way she flirts with Trini and the sight makes Kim’s skin crawl with discomfort and just a smidge of jealousy. Maybe it’s the way Kim feels like she’s being replaced.

It’s been two months since they defeated Rita and became a closely knit family of misfits

They continue to defeat Rita’s putties whenever they randomly spring up and help rebuild the town and earn the trust of the people of Angel Grove

The hype has started to die down and things are finally looking normal for our five meta-human teens when a new girl appears on their cliff one day holding the green power coin

Her name is Tommie Oliver and she just moved into town with her father

She was out wandering the streets one night when she stumbled upon a green glowing rock and the next thing she knows is she’s waking up in her bed and she’s suddenly got super powers

The team’s wary of the new girl, what with their history with Rita and the coin, but Jason ultimately says that they need to at least try to accept Tommie into the group, after all she is a ranger

Trini is visibly upset and Kim remains suspicious and they talk alot about it that night when Kim sneaks into Trini’s room

The next week rolls by in a strange way

First Tommie seems to share almost every class with Trini and Kim’s surprised to see them sitting together at lunch that day, chatting and sharing food

And Kim’s not really sure what she’s feeling but every time Tommie makes Trini laugh or flirts with her she can’t help but shake this jealousy

She continues to tell herself it’s because she doesn’t trust Tommie yet and she’s just looking out for Trini like any platonic bestie would

Billy and Tommie bond over his inventions and the team learns that they’re making plans to build a robot together

Tommie proves to be an excellent fighter when they take her to the pit and she tells them that she knows several Mixed Martial Art styles

Kim finds Jason and Tommie talking strategy one afternoon and he goes so far as to let Tommie take the reins one training session

Kim crumbles a rock to dust when she catches Tommie with her hands on Trini’s hips as she “guides” her through a move

Kim confides in Zack because he’s still unsure about Tommie as well, but even that’s pointless because the next day before detention they come sauntering up together, joking around and play fighting

Kim remains wary of Tommie and the rest of the rangers try to convince her to give Tommie a chance

But she’s caught Tommie poking her nose around the ship and the mines where Rita built Goldar and she’s nervous Tommie might turn on them

And Tommie’s doing so well as a ranger Kim starts to doubt her own abilities and is constantly trying to one up Tommie, but the other girl remains three steps ahead of her

A random puttie attack occurs and they pull out their Zords (Tommie also has a Zord, it was just kept seperate from the others because they feared Rita could have gotten it)

During the attack Kim thinks she sees Tommie attacking Trini and immediately guns her down, ignoring Jason’s commands to help Billy

They barely defeat the putties and Billy ends up getting hurt because Kim wasn’t there to help him

Kim runs away once they put back the Zords, angered at herself and at Tommie, but the team catch up with her outside Krispy Kreme

Jason’s furious and he demands Kim explain herself and she blames Tommie, accusing her of sabotaging the mission

That’s when Trini steps in, defending Tommie and yelling at Kim

She’s pissed beyond belief that Kim doesn’t trust Tommie enough, saying that she’s just as much a ranger as any of them

Kim visibly shakes as Trini cusses her out, screaming that she’s still blaming everyone but herself and that she’s still the self-possessed mean girl she used to be, that she hasn’t changed and probably never will

Trini stalks off and Zack follows, equally pissed

Jason tells her that she’s benched from ranger duty and he pulls a torn Billy away from Kim, leaving her alone in the alleyway

Kim sobs and holds herself until the heat from her power coin becomes too much and she chucks it down the alley, hoping it shatters and she’s no longer a ranger

That’s when Tommie steps from the darkness and catches her coin

She walks toward Kim and stops to tower over her, flipping the pink power coin through the air carelessly

Kim tries to swallow her pride and apologize but she suddenly finds herself immobile and panic sets in when Tommie starts laughing

When she looks up Tommie’s disguise fades away and Rita stands in front of her, smiling wickedly before knocking Kim out

Kim wakes up at the docks in some abandoned warehouse tied down by metal chains

Rita explains how rangers in possession of another rangers coin can manipulate that rangers energy and she tells Kim that she’s going to use her to hurt her friends

“I won’t. I won’t hurt my friends!”

“Oh Pink... you won’t have a choice!”

The group are all gathered in the ship when the alarms start blaring and Alpha pulls up a live feed of an attack happening downtown

The creature attacking looks a little like Goldar in that they’re dripping gold but it’s human sized

Just then Tommie’s frantic voice comes over their communicators telling them she’s hurt

The team race into town and find Tommie with a small gash on her side and she tells them that the creature came out of no where and attacked her

Putties spring up and the team jump into action, pulling out their weapons to aid in the fight

Jason goes up against the golden monster and they spar with sword and scepter

Jason manages to get a good slice across the gold creatures chest and kicks it to the ground, preparing to stab it

But Billy jumps between them and pushes Jason back, telling him to stop

Billy saw for a brief moment when Jason cut through the gold that the thing underneath was bleeding

He knows theres someone trapped inside and that they can’t hurt an innocent person

The gold being jumps to it’s feet and grabs Billy and points their scepter at him and Jason holds his sword at the its throat, torn between listening to Billy’s pleas and protecting him

But that’s when Tommie slips up

She tells Jason to kill it, that it’s the only way to defeat Rita, and asks if he’s willing to watch Billy die again

And that’s when it clicks for him, because Tommie’s not supposed to know about Billy dying at the docks

All the rangers pick up on it and when they turn to Tommie, her disguise falls away and Rita’s standing there with her scepter and grinning madly

Zack and Jason react first but she uses her gold monster to protect herself and Billy tells them that theres someone trapped inside it

Trini is able to tackle Rita and the scepter out of her hand

As they tussle Rita pins Trini and crushes her throat, tells her to say goodbye to her little friends, but she’s distracted long enough for Jason to run her through with his sword

She sputters that this isn’t the end before light explodes around them and she disappears, leaving behind her scepter and two power coins

The gold being suddenly falls to their hands and knees and when the gold begins to melt away it reveals Kim gasping and wounded

The team instantly rush her back to the ship and they’re so worried they get into a huge argument with each other

Jason blames himself for hurting Kim and Zordon blames himself for not sensing Rita’s presence; Zack takes his mind off things and starts attacking sim putties, while Billy works with Alpha to help Kim

Trini disappears for a while and when she comes back she’s obviously been crying

Kim wakes up long enough to tell them that no one is to blame and that Rita had tricked all of them

Alpha tends to her wounds and Trini stays by her side the entire night

The next time Kim wakes up she finds Trini beside her, crying

She apologizes profusely for not believing Kim and calls herself an idiot for getting caught up in some girl’s attention

She confesses she liked the feeling of being wanted and how stupid she feels thinking that someone actually liked her

And without missing a beat Kim tells her she loves her

Trini’s jaw pops open and Kim admits to having feelings for the girl but being afraid that she wasn’t good enough for her

In a blink Trini’s kissing her senseless and telling her that she’s more than enough, that she really has changed, and that she loves Kim back

Bonus:

And of course, leave it to Zack to walk in not two seconds later and scream “CALLED IT!”

[fragilefangirl]

19 Years Later

So today is the infamous 1st of September in the epilogue. But you know what other day it is? It’s 10 Dzulhijjah, a.k.a eid al-adha day for muslims.

So I thought–why not mix both?

——-

Why must the departure be at September 1st?

Rahma Aghniya was in the brink of tears as her mother and father hugged her goodbye, sombre smile plastered at their lips each. She knew they tried to swallow down the disappointment.

Now, don’t get her wrong; she loved being a wizard. Had loved it since the letter first arrived at her house. She suddenly could make sense all of the weird things happening to her, the moving books, the sudden change in hair color. She had gaped in awe when a witch named Professor McGonagall–who, according to the letter, was the headmistress–had came to her house disguised as a cute black cat. She loved shopping at Diagon Alley with Umma and Abba, loved getting her part-kneazle cat whom she named Minnie. Loved the smell of sweets and paper and magic surrounding her, welcoming her into this strange yet beautiful world.

Her only problem was that her school starts at September 1st, 2017.

The same day as eid.

She didn’t have the chance to do eid prayer–she lived too far away from London, from King’s Cross, so she had to depart very early in the morning, even before the sun rose. Umma and Abba missed it as well, as they filled their mornings with sorting out her trunks and her belongings instead. She felt somewhat guilty from robbing their chance of prayer, despite them telling her repetitiously that they were fine.

When Abba finally helped push her last trunk to the train, dread finally took over Rahma’s system. This was it; she was going to spend eid alone, in a brand new world she had yet to discover, filled with strangers she had yet to know, and she was honestly scared.

It did not help that people seemed to already have their own friends, their own squad. It only added the feeling of being so lonely in a day that was supposed to be all about family and togetherness. After strolling around and awkwardly avoiding people (she had always find it difficult to find new friends) Rahma finally found an empty compartment, secluded in the corner, its door hidden by the shadows. “Well,” she said, trying to make amends as Minnie leaped from the cage to her lap, “at least I got you, Minnie.”

Not long after, the train began to move, and she waved at Umma and Abba, waved and waved until they were dots invisible for her to reach. Her heart grew heavier. She pat Minnie softly, muttering the takbeer as she did so.

“Allahu akbar, laa ilaha illa Allah…”

She was reminded of the masjid teenagers shouting takbeers from the minarets, the chant of triumph. There were always parade at the night of eid al adha, and she lamented on the fact that she was going to miss this year’s parade. She was going to miss the qurban, missed everything.

She gulped heavily, trying to suppress the negativity down.

A harsh sliding noise surprised her.

She turned to find a bunch of kids around her age, face looking equally as surprised as she were. Two were gingers, though one had darker hair than the other, one had a brilliant emerald eyes and jet black hair, and the only girl in the group shared a complexion as nearly dark as hers. “Whoops,” said the lighter ginger rather bashfully. “We’re sorry, thought it was empty. We’ll go–”

But Rahma, hating the overbearing silence signifying her loneliness, decided that it was better to sit by strangers than to spend the rest of the trip alone. “It’s okay.” She said, patting the space next to her awkwardly. “The place is big enough for all of us.”

She could see the evident relief filling their faces, and she couldn’t help but to smile at that. At least she was giving them a small portion of happiness.

The group took seats, and, after an awkward silence, Rahma finally took the initiate. “I’m Rahma,” she offered, sheepishly. “What’s your name?”

The look exchanged between the group was a look of total surprise, and Rahma was afraid that she had done something wrong. Was this not how wizards introduce themselves? “Did I say something wrong?” She asked, out of worry.

“No, no,” answered the girl, immediately. “It’s just–it’s not often that someone doesn’t recognise us. We usually get hogged by everyone, so it’s quite a surprise.” She quickly offered a hand, which Rahma took uncertainly. They were famous? “I’m Rose. Rose Weasley.”

“I’m Fred Weasley.” Added the larger ginger. “Fred the second, as the media had so often reminded me, but usually just Fred.”

“James Sirius Potter,” said the darker ginger, somewhat smiling proudly, “the greatest prankster in history!”

“Oh please,” the last person–the boy with green eyes–sighed in exasperation. “Hi, I’m Al Potter. It’s really nice of you to offer your compartment, Rahma.” He said her name in a funny way, and Rahma couldn’t help but to chuckle.

“It’s really nice to meet you too.” She said, fingering the hijab on her head. Minnie meowed softly.

“Really, though,” Fred said, dramatically, “we thought we were going to have to stay in the hallway for the rest of the trip!” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Al and Rose, who in turn replied by sticking out their tongue (Al) and middle finger (Rose). Rahma laughed at that.

They then continued talking, but Rahma could feel that all eyes were on her for some unknown reason, and she started to feel nervous.

“Rahma,” said Rose, finally, “what’s that on your head?” She awkwardly gestured to the hijab Rahma had worn.

“Oh!” She said, surprised at the question. “It’s… It’s a hijab.” She said, fiddling with the ruffle ends of the fabric.

“Hijab?”

“A veil,” Rahma explained, “it’s to cover my hair.”

“Why would you cover your hair?” Asked Fred, and Rahma could see the curiosity in his eyes. “Did you have a bad haircut?”

Rahma smiled, suppressing amusement. “No, it’s because i’m a muslim.” She said, patiently. “Muslim women wear hijabs to show modesty.”

James narrowed his eyes together. “Muslim?” He asked, skeptically. “But aren’t they bad? The muggle news said they’re bad.”

And in that moment, Rahma could finally understood the resentment her father had to the mainstream media, how he watched the evening program in disdain and outwardly refused to see new movies that involved arabic terrorism. “They’re stereotyping us as the villain just because they could,” he once said, “and look what it did to us; it drives wedges between humanity.”

“No,” Rahma said, firmly. “Do I look bad to you?” She challenged the boy, who shook his head adamantly. “Then I’m not bad. And so aren’t other muslims.” She huffed, “that’s just the media being an arsehole.”

At this, the group broke into affirmative mutters. “Tell me about it,” Fred scrunched up his nose. “Once, Rita Skeeter wrote that my real dad is actually his dead twin and it’s all for a crazy conspiracy!” He shook his head. Even though Rahma didn’t know who Rita Skeeter was, she could tell that the person in question was a nuisance. “The media could be mean just for the sake of it.”

“My dad was always said to be dating a new chick every week.” Al groaned, and James rolled his eyes. “‘The great Harry Potter, a supreme womanizer?’ What a crappy headline!”

They all shared their mutual disdain for the media, and soon the conversation grew warmer and warmer. Rahma liked her new friends, still, she couldn’t help but to steal a glance or two at the window, wondering what her family was doing, how the day was progressing. Had the qurban been done?

“…Rahma?” James snapped her out from her reverie, and she blinked in surprise. “We lost you for a moment, there, mate.”

“Sorry,” she said, sheepishly, “It’s just… I miss my family.” She explained, “today was supposed to be a big day for us muslims, and I’m spending it away from my family for the first time.” She glanced at her new friends, who stared at her, half-curious and half-expectant. “We call it eid al-adha.”

“Is it like christmas?” James asked, innocently.

“Um… No, i think?” Rahma replied, “we don’t exchange gifts. But we do give away fresh meats to those who need them. There’s usually a feast, too.” She said, scratching her head, “we call that qurban, which means sacrifice, because we sacrifice the goats and cows to God.”

A collective oohs was heard throughout the compartment, “but won’t that hurt the animals?” Asked Rose, her tone terrified.

“My dad always said that we use the sharpest tools and the most skilled butcher to make their death quick and painless.” She explained, “We also soothe them with prayers and religious blessings to make them feel calm before doing it. Don’t want to hurt them, either.” She added. Rose nodded in wonder, as did the boys.

The rest of the trip, as she tried to describe eid and other aspects in her life and they equally tried to explain to her the magical world, she felt her heart swell.

Maybe it wasnt such a bad eid after all.

[feyreofthewildfire]

We’ll Go Together - Chapter 6

Okay so... I may or may not have completely forgotten to post Chapter 6 and 7 on here...? I’ll make it up by posting Chapter 8 early on here. Promise.

Enjoy!!

Chapter 1

'Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet And you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street So I'm not moving, I'm not moving

Sleep drags from him.

It’s the first thing that’s different: that he is sleeping, and that he’s not violently torn from it. There’s a certain amount of commotion that doesn’t line up with the apartment—the shuffling of feet in the hall and steady sound of someone breathing. Combined with the fact that he’s actually sleeping, the weight of a body pressed next to his, and the arm on his torso, he knows that something’s wrong.

His eyes snap open at that realization, meeting an unfamiliar white ceiling. A thousand thoughts run through him before he turns and finds that it’sher curled up against him, sleeping. She keeps shuffling, that permanent set in her brow he noticed the first time he saw her more apparent than ever, but she’s sleeping, so he’s knows that they’re safe. She wouldn’t be asleep if they were in any kind of danger.

The constant stream of memories that washes through him has stopped for the first time since she saw him, and he takes the moment to bask in the quiet. There’s another, more recent memory battling for his attention but he ignores it, focusing on her. He tentatively reaches a hand across and pushes the strands of hair that have fallen out of her face. He’s too afraid to go any further, even if she’s already curled around him.

The door opens and he nearly forgets that, sliding out from under her and sitting up. He recognizes who walks in, and it makes his head throb once again. His short relief is taken away. The woman with the black hair waltzes in and seats herself in the chair next to his bed, unfazed by his reaction.

“It’s been a long time, High Lord.” The title strikes a chord in him, one that reverberates through his bones. He pays it no mind, not with the otherworldly way she speaks. Some part of his knows she’s not human.

“Who are you?” His eyes narrow and he resists the urge to pull the woman still sleeping next to him closer.

“The only person the spell didn’t work on.”

“What do you want?”

She sighs, and for the first time he truly notices the huge piece of jewelry around her neck. It reminds him of the ring around his. “To go home. Unfortunately, you’re the only person who can grant me that.”

None of her answers make any sense, and only succeed in confusing him more. “The Cauldron broke when I was released. You were all too drained to fix it. But you and your mate tried anyways, and you died in the attempt. Helion picked up the Book of Breathings and managed to cast a spell. We ended up here.” She gestures around her, than to the brunette at his side. “She was too overcome with grief to cast the spell herself. If she had, it wouldn’t have thrown us into another world.” There’s no malice in her tone, only a hint of annoyance.

“You need to get back to full power so we can all go home. That means remembering.” Her tone is condescending, and he nearly rises out of bed to defend himself. “You refused to remember, so you attacked your brother and I had to fake documentation for you. Do you know how difficult it is to fake an entire life overnight? You’re lucky I started right after you entered this plane.”

“What? I-”

“You need to remember, Rhysand.” She commands him, paying no mind to the questions he has. “Prythian is in shambles. Velaris’ wards have fallen. The spell has slowed the void, but it has swallowed half of the Summer Court in the time you’ve been gone.”

There’s a hurricane of memories he’s been standing in the eye of since he’s come back, desperately avoiding it all. Her words throw him into the winds.

A million different things, places, people flood him. He doesn’t know how long he suffers in its thrall. The memories are cold and dark and broken , filling him with so much guilt and pain that it suffocates him.

But she’s the light. He’d be more surprised if she wasn’t.

He remembers those blissful days spent in the cabin and all the time after they spent apart. He remembers the pain of knowing that she was hundreds of miles away.  He remembers nights at Rita’s with his family, laughing away the night. He remembers the safety of Velaris and that every second of pain had been worth it if it meant preserving the one good thing he’d be remembered for.

When the barrage of memories ends and he opens his eyes again, it’s to Feyre leaning over him, softly murmuring his name.

“Feyre?” His voice is hoarse as he raises a hand, brushing the hair that’s fallen behind her ear and resting his palm against her cheek.

“Oh, thank goodness.” The relief in her eyes is almost enough to make him forget what Amren, who’s gone now, told him. He can see the questions in her eyes as he sits up, forcing her to lean back. When she moves to climb off of him, he softly sets his hands on her waist. The touch is featherlight, but the way her hands tentatively wrap around his neck gives him to the courage to continue.

“I need you to remember.” He asks—pleads .

“What? I-I thought we were taking this slow.” She laughs nervously, sliding her hands to clutch his shoulders. “And-and you need to get checked out. You didn’t tell me how bad the memories were affecting you, but this strange wom—”

“Feyre, please.” It’s one of the few times he’s ever interrupted her. It leaves an ugly taste in his mouth, but he needs to. “I need you to remember.”

“Rhys, you just attacked someone you once considered a brother.” The utter heartbreak in her voice is enough to quiet him, if only for a moment. “I talked to him and he’s starting to remember too, but he had to give you a sedative and a lot of people are asking a lot of questions that I-I can’t answer.” She takes a deep, shaky breath. “I have a lot of questions that I can’t answer. All my memories are incomplete but they feel important. Like there’s a reason within them that we’re here.”

She’s projecting her feelings across their rediscovered bond: the hesitance and pain that have come with most if not all of the moments she’s remembered. It sends a dagger through him.

He carefully presses his brow to hers, soothingly running his thumbs back and forth over her cheekbones as her eyes flutter shut. “I know a lot of them hurt, but there are just as many good ones; like Starfall.”

A breathtaking smile rules her face at his words. “We haven’t discussed Starfall since the first day.” It awes him how she doesn’t question how he knows her thoughts, how she gives him her blind trust. He’s hesitant to tell her, but what was once a small reminder is now an unbearable weight, a noose around his neck. He has to tell her.

“Do you remember the Weaver?”

“The time you sent me in or the time she ate that horrible priestess?” Her answer is immediate, though there’s a hint of confusion surrounding the former.

“The first one. Do you remember what I asked you to get?”

Her brow furrows, concentration etching into her features. “It was a test, but I don’t remember what I got.”  She shudders, wrapping her arms around herself in a comforting motion. “I do remember throwing up in the House afterwards.”

He reaches for the chain under his shirt, pulling it over his head and holding it towards her. “I asked you to get this ring.”

He’d remembered his first thought when he’d looked at the ring himself, the intricate gold and silver bands twining around the deep set blue jewel in the middle. It had always left him pining for something else, someone else. Eventually he had tucked it under his shirt and willfully forgotten about it. It had reminded him of another time that he didn’t remember. Until now.

Feyre gently plucks the ring out of his hand, leaving the chain hanging in the space between them. She gently runs her fingers across the vine-like band, as if it’s familiar but she doesn’t know why it is. She looks up at him, “What about it?”

He swallows, both gathering and smothering the words he wants to say. We’re married. I love you. You were broken and it scared me. You told me once that you had wanted to die.

“It was yours.”

Shock flits across her face, followed by understanding. “Oh.”

He takes a moment to gather the words, tries to find a way to present them to a version of her that isn’t his, that doesn’t fully remember. “You don’t have to wear it, but it’s yours. I can’t keep it.”

She flips it over once, twice, before taking the chain in hand and slipping it over her neck. She carefully tucks it under the plain, paint-stained t shirt she’s wearing and pulls her hair out from under the chain.

He’s both infinitely glad and infinitely disappointed. She’s not—they’re not—quite there yet, but they’re on the way. The latter of his emotions turns into disappointment in himself. He should be glad that she accepted the ring at all. A week ago, she wouldn’t have.

The thought nearly breaks him in half, but sight of the chain around her neck, even tucked under her collar, reminds him of what he’s fighting for.

To return home and go back to where they really belong.

To restore peace and order and preserve what he had worked so hard to achieve.  

To find his brothers, his cousin, and his Second and go home.

But he knows that he’ll wait forever for Feyre to be ready to go home, to let go of the place she’s called home for almost three decades. Prythian be damned, until she’s willing to go he’ll wait.

He’ll always wait for her.

Next Chapter

[whenimawakeandwhenimasleep]

Secrets

Ronan loves ASMR. It doesn’t help him sleep, but it lulls and distracts him on his worst days. Noah lies next to him on his bed and they watch videos together. (Noah must get the feeling, too, as his fleeting form sometimes sparks and quivers). They have different preferences, Ronan loving tapping and eye exams and Noah always opting for haircut roleplays. Ronan can’t stand mouth sounds and it becomes their thing. Noah does them in the BMW when Ronan’s feelings are peeling his skin off and turning his head cotton, just to jolt him awake. Ronan swerves his car violently as a retaliation and when Noah almost slides through the door, he has to remind his friend that he, unlike Ronan, is already dead. Ronan drives faster and faster after that. When everything has happened and Noah is gone, the car seems really quiet. Adam never questions it when Ronan plugs his phone to the car’s soundsystem and blares ASMR videos from Youtube.

Gansey has a thing for dancing. Not just any dancing but ballroom dancing and theatrics. In his mind, Fred Astaire is something otherworldly, Rita Hayworth taps dreams out in her dance shoes. He feels the rhythm pulsing in his feet and knows a thousand routines by heart, but he has never taken up dancing or never even dared to try. Next to Glendower, everything else felt surreal. So when he confesses this in a dark motel room in Rio, Blue rises up as fast as she can with three shots of tequila in her system and asks him to dance with her. Gansey looks up at her and takes her hand. They’re bad, really bad, Henry wheezes out between fits of laughter. As they reach Europe, they’re already so much better. Neither of them is surprised to find out that vaudevillian dance is something Henry excels at.

Adam wants to taste what other people eat and smell other people’s perfumes and scents. It has nothing to do with being hungry or wanting things he can’t afford to have. He has been doing it since childhood and he continues to do it after he is able to support himself comfortably. He doesn’t want alcohol, but God, he would love to smell and sip every single Margarita, Caipirosca and Daiquiri his coursemates order. He doesn’t really like coriander, but he wants to taste Blue’s falafel wrap. He goes secretly through Gansey’s and Ronan’s scents every time he studies in Monmouth. Adam never says a word about it, because he doesn’t want to appear hungry or poor. He doesn’t need to, not to Ronan; Ronan wants him to taste everything he orders “because I swear this tastes fucking funny, I don’t want a food poisoning”. Ronan asks his opinion before buying a scent or a shampoo “because I don’t want to smell like balls or grandpa Richard”. Later, Adam gets to pick every detergent in their home, gets to pick scented candles for their bedroom (“Fucking hell, Parrish, this place looks like it’s going to host a séance”). When Ronan cooks, he takes a small teaspoonful and feeds it to Adam, who smiles like the Sun.

Blue can’t pronounce an ŋ properly. It never bothers her and it never bothers Maura and it never bothers her teacher. This collective not being bothered results in her not learning it at any point. And so her life goes on just as it did before. In that sense, it can’t be called a secret. But it is also not apparent, since their dialect variant allows the omission of final ŋs. Adam does it, when he doesn’t pay attention or when he is angry or afraid or tired. Two thirds of the population in Henrietta does it. Raven boys most definitely don’t do it. One night, when Blue is taking Gansey out for a car ride and all is quiet around them, he finally has the chance to listen to every tone and lilt and sound in her voice. And that’s when he picks it up. And it fills him with flutters and light and electricity. She feigns indifference, but starts to enunciate words more clearly, just to see Gansey bite the corner of his lip and run his knuckles nervously against his neck. Adam is the first realise that there’s something in her speech that makes Gansey uncomfortable and happy at the same time and he can’t help but grin when it happens. Her nonexistent ŋ makes Ronan even happier. “Hey Sargent, say ‘Cheng gets a lot of bling for banging a fucking drum’!”. Henry is so proud that Ronan uses the word ‘bling’.

Henry also has asthma. It’s not bad, but enough for him to cough in dusty places and avoid homes with pets. Most often than not, his daily medicine is enough to keep the attacks at bay, so he tends to forget that he’s asthmatic. He likes tennis and he likes cricket, but nobody would call Henry Cheng very athletic, either. No exertion, no attacks. Days and months go by without any problems and he knows himself to be the type that starts forgetting his meds as soon as his health gets better. He also knows subconsciously that he has not told his new friends about his condition. A petty gnaw at the back of his mind. So when Henry actually gets an attack, in the backseat of the Pig, the general atmosphere varies between panicked and distraught. He finds his meds in the bottom of his 90’s Eastpak. Almost pure salbutamol. A quick inhale helps with the symptoms, not with Gansey’s confused and worried look. Ronan wonders aloud if he will ever dream anything else but fucking medicines for his friends.

Noah can choose where he travels - to a certain degree. Where he goes and what he sees is sometimes pure chance, but he can hope. When time gets fine and thread-like, he starts closing his eyes in the hopes of travelling. He goes to see Ronan often, Ronan in his room and angry. Ronan at school and angry. Ronan at the Barns and inconsolable. He sits next to Ronan in the BMW and through the hazy windows, he can see the boy with a blade smile. Ronan doesn’t smile, he doesn’t smirk, he just stares ahead emotionless as the race starts. Noah reaches over the console and runs his knuckles gently over Ronan’s cheek, finding solace in that in a year, Adam Parrish will be stroking the same cheek. He knows that there isn’t a lot left unsaid between them because Ronan isn’t good with words with anyone. All the same, he tells unhearing Ronan how seeing his hurt hurts Noah as well. How he should just sit down on that bed and take the toy and try to stop at least that hurt.

Noah goes to see Blue a lot. He sees how she longs for great things, an equal knight in the magnificent court of wistful children. She wants to achieve and reach things that are right now beyond her grasp. In that way, she is like Gansey and Adam. She wants to find a purpose, something that makes the sting in her chest go away. In that, she is like Ronan. But most of all, Blue Sargent wants to live. And that is what Noah wanted more than anything, what he wants so badly, but his time is getting thinner and thinner. He goes to see them on the bed where he kissed Blue. Noah is lying on the bed and standing next to it at the same time, looking at Blue and looking at them. When his lips touch Blue’s, he sits down next to them and puts his hand on their hands and kisses her cheek. He’s so sorry for what’s to come but all the same, he’s also happy to have met such a breathtaking person like her.

What to do with Gansey and Adam, he doesn’t know. He goes to see them often and at various stages of their lives. He keeps seeing Gansey on the ground, dying and desperate to survive. In a loop, he keeps whispering the same words in his ear, repeating the same pattern, saving him every time. It’s his favourite thing in the whole world. Gansey gets to live and they get to meet each other. But what comes after that is so difficult for Noah to understand. It’s the first round, where there’s a bee and a child. Not a young man at the side of the road. Gansey survives, but it takes years for him to find peace, running aimlessly around the world in the search of a king that never slept. Despite his appearances, Gansey is an unhappy child that is never comfortable in his own skin.

Adam is so powerful in so many ways and Noah feels drawn to him on the ley line. The magic has always been there, Noah knows it. Even when Adam is cowering behind the counter and praying his father to stop, there’s something growing inside those strong bones. Noah can’t always stay to watch, it is too much. He tries to make up for it later, tries to support Adam when others find his mission too relentless and severe. Noah can’t see beyond the end of his time, but he knows without doubt that there are also bright and kind days ahead of Adam, despite the terrible ones to come.

Noah ends up in Aglionby, on Raven Day. It is strange see one’s dreams played out. Most things he sees are shrouded up in mist, like a drug haze produced by the blunt force trauma and him being dead for ages. Days are dull and numb, like light sepia photos that he gets to skim through in someone else’s album. Not Raven Day. It’s the day when he’s grateful for looking for Gansey and Adam. It’s the day he gets to see Adele, standing on the stage and speaking for him. He had tried to tell his friends about him, formulate a thought that maybe something else was also taken with his life. A spark of some sort. The colours are so vivid and she is brilliant. Sometimes when Noah visits that time, he reaches out to her, just to feel the same spark crackling in her.

Raven day is not grey. It is full of ravens and colours and dreams. And amidst all that is Noah Czerny. He holds the most striking raven in his hands and he looks at the two boys standing next to each other. Many things happened and happens between now and then and there are times when Gansey and Adam lose each other for a moment. Wander away just to meet back in the middle, for good on that Raven Day. And Noah sees it and sees the bond between them. Strangely, that is almost the end of awful days for them, just a few more terrors to survive. And Gansey and Adam will always survive. They will end up happy and radiant. Noah looks up at the sky filled with birds

Time is getting thinner again, so thin he can see everything at once - heartbroken boys and a longing girl. Demons and a hitman and kingpins. Families. Blood that bleeds out of a forest and terrifying grief. He sees the love and strings that tie their beings together. He hears the bees and the great black wings beating the air. The veil is just too thin to visit anything specific anymore. Noah wishes it wasn’t a secret. He wishes it so bad. He wants them to know that he was able to move back and forth. He wants them to know that he tried to be there with them and that they weren’t really alone. But as the side of the road approaches his sight, he can’t get his voice through. There isn’t enough oxygen to carry out his secret. And so he kneels down and whispers the words in Gansey’s ear once again.

[dukereviewstv]

Duke Reviews Tv: Smallville 1x06 Hourglass

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Tv Where We Are Continuing Our Look At Smallville By Talking About Episode 6 Of Season 1, Hourglass...

In This Episode, Clark Meets Cassandra Carver, An Wheelchair Bound Old Woman Who Lost Her Sight In The Meteor Shower But Gained The Ability To See Into The Future. Meanwhile, An Old Man Named Harry Volk Falls Into A Pond Filled With Meteor Rocks Which Makes Him Young And Allows Him To Begin Killing The Descendants Of The People On The Jury That Convicted Him Of 60 Years Ago, Will Clark Stop Harry's Murders? And What Information Will Both Clark And Lex Get Out Of Cassandra?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Hourglass...

The Episode Starts With Clark And Pete Doing Their 30 Hours Of Community Service At The Old Folks Home Instead Of The Girl's Swimming Class At The Y Like Pete Wanted...

What A Shock, Lana's Here!

Assigned To Cassandra Carver (Played By Jackie Burroughs, Who Would Later Work With Harrison Wells Himself, Tom Cavanaugh On The ABC Family Christmas Movie, Snow) She Tells Pete To Check His Pockets, Which Is When Pete Discovers He Left His Keys In His Car...

Meanwhile, Lana Is Working With An Old Man Named Harry Bollston, Who Is Well Taught On Family History As He Tells Lana Her Family History In 2 Seconds...

Taking Harry Outside, He Asks Lana To Run Back Inside To Get A Scarf For Him When Really Harry Wants A Few Minutes To Smoke A Cigarette, However In Dropping His Lighter, Harry Fall Into The Pool Only To Come Out A Few Years Younger (Young Harry Is Played By NCIS: Los Angeles' Eric Christian Olsen)

But As That Was Going On Cassandra Wanted A Glass Of Water Only To Drop It When She Has A Vision Of Someone Close To Clark Dying...

That Afternoon At The Kent Farm, Clark Tells Jonathan And Martha About Cassandra's Vision With Them Of Course Not Buying It With Jonathan Believing It's Just A Half Baked Prediction And Martha Saying That If It Was Real She Should Have Given More Specifics (How, When, Where...)

Back At The Old Folks Home, Harry Has Disguised Himself As A Nurse. Entering His Room, He Gets Newspaper Clippings Before Looking In A Mirror, To Say That Fate Has Given Him A Second Chance And That This Time, They'll Pay...

Visiting The Beanery, Harry Basically Eats Everything He Can't Eat Anymore All While Sounding Like An Old Man...

With Lana Depressed At Losing Old Harry Chloe And Clark Try To Help As Young Harry Eavesdrops On Their Conversation...

Later At The Old Folks Home, Harry Plays The Piano As Cassandra Listens. Attempting To Read Harry's Palm, He's Too Smart To Fall For Cassandra's Tricks...

Dropping Vegetables Off At The Luthor Mansion, Clark Tells Lex About Cassandra's Vision And He Says The Exact Same Thing That Jonathan And Martha Said, But Believing That This Woman's The Real Deal Clark Then Asks Clark If He Really Wants To Know The Future?

When It Comes To You, Lex Maybe...

Asking For Cassandra's Name, Clark Tells Lex As He Leaves For The Old Folks Home Where Clark Runs Into Lana Who Has Discovered That Harry Bollston's Real Name Is Harry Volk And That He Was A Criminal Who Had A Bright Future But When His Teacher Chose Someone Else Over Him, So, As The Teacher Killed His Dream, He Killed The Teacher's Dream...

"Now Life Has Killed The Dream, I Dreamed...

Meanwhile On The Other Side Of Town, Cable Man Harry Goes After Someone Named Jim Gage, Who's Related To Someone On The Jury That Convicted Him...

Back At The Old Folks Home, Clark Runs Into Cassandra, Who Tells Him How She Started Having Visions...

Wow, And I Thought Daredevil Had An Interesting Origin...

Telling Cassandra That His Parents Believe Her To Be Nuts, But She Just Gives The Old People Are Afraid Of The Unknown Line And That Her Powers Only Show A Destination, The Journey Is Up To The Person...

Having Many Questions Of His Life, Cassandra Takes Clark's Hand Again To Show Him....

Ok, It's Not That Nightmare Of A Comic But It Is Clark Seeing That He'll Outlive Everyone He Cares For...

Upset At This Vision, Clark Runs Off...

The Next Morning, Clark Tells His Parents What Cassandra Showed Him With Them Again Not Believing It Despite Clark Telling Them That She Lost Her Vision In The Meteor Shower....

Come On, You Two! Wake Up!

Reading The Braille Edition Of The Daily Planet, Cassandra Gets Visited By Lex, Who Is Interested In Getting Some Insight Clark, Even Offering Money To Cassandra To Do So But She Says That Can't Tell Him Anything About Clark, As She Can Tell The Future Of The Person Who's Hand She Touches But Not Wanting To Know His Future, Lex Walks Away...

Meanwhile At School, Clark Meets Lana At The Torch When She Says That Chloe Has Some Information On Harry But She's More Interested In The Wall Of Weird When She Notices Her Picture Next To A 3 Headed Calf And The Monster From Crater Lake...

Meeting Chloe And Pete At The Kent Barn Instead Of The Torch, They Show Clark A Paper Of Jim Gage's Death Which Was Done The Same Way That Harry Volk Did It In 1945, Clark Believes It To Be A Copycat At First That Is Until Chloe Shows Clark Young Harry's Photo...

But As They Head To The Old Folks Home To Search Through Harry's Mail, Harry Is At The Beanery, Preparing To Kill Another Descendant Of A Member Of The Jury That Convicted Him Named Zoe Garfield, Who's A Waitress At The Beanery...

As Clark, Chloe And Pete Go To Search Harry's Mail, Clark Runs Into Cassandra, Who Tells Him That He's The First Person Who's Ever Seen Her Visions And She Thinks That That's Because Clark Is Not Like Other People...

Believing That Clark's Destiny Is To Save People From Fear And Darkness, She Touches Clark's Hand Again To Show Him People Who Need His Help...

Before Clark Goes To Check On Pete And Chloe, Cassandra Promises To Keep Clark's Secret...

Arriving In Harry's Room, Chloe Tells Clark They Found Nothing In The Mail However, They Did Find Some Newspaper Clippings, From The Smallville Ledger, Noticing A Picture Of Waitress Zoe, Clark Races Off To The Beanery To Save Her, Arriving Just In Time As Harry Tries To Kill Her...

Throwing Zoe In The Road As An Oncoming Truck Is Coming, Clark Protects Zoe Saving Her Life...

Going After Harry, He Tries To Attack Clark With A Chopping Knife (Which Breaks Into A Million Pieces) Before Clark Throws Him On Top Of A Car...

That Night At The Kent Farm, Martha Tells Clark That Zoe Will Be Fine, The Truck Driver Isn't Asking Questions, And Harry Is At The Hospital For Observation But Saying Clark Figured It Out Due To Cassandra's Vision Has Mom And Dad Realizing Maybe She's Not Bonkers After All...

Really? You Don't Say!

Believing That There's A Chance That Cassandra Might Know Clark's Secret, Jonathan Tells Clark To Stay Away From Her...

Getting A Phone Call From Lex, He Shows Clark The Crashed Up Remains Of The Porsche, Asking Him If He Remembers Anything About The Accident, Clark Says No As Lex Feels A Little Strange Up And Walking About When Every Shred Of Evidence About The Accident Says He Should Be Dead...

Meanwhile At The Hospital, Sheriff Ethan Visits The Hospital To Pick Up Harry But When He Enters We See That He's Reverted Back To An Old Man Who Lies To The Police By Saying That A Kid That Was Obsessed With His Case Kidnapped Him...

Not Buying Old Harry's Story, Clark Stops By Old Harry's Room As Clark Is Starting To Believe That Him And This Kid Are One And The Same....

Calling The Nurse, She Tells Clark To Get Out But Later That Afternoon, Old Harry Returns To The Pond To Go For Another Dip In The Fountain Of Youth...

Freedom!

Back At The Torch, Chloe, Pete And Clark Go Over Files On Harry's Case As Lana Comes In Saying That Harry's Gone Again However Unlike Last Time, Clark Noticed That There Were Meteor Rocks In The Pond...

Discovering A List Of Jurors From Harry's Trial Which Include Randolph Gage (Jim Gage's Father) Rita Garfield (Zoe Garfield's Grandmother) And Hiram Kent (Clark's Grandfather) Which Means Jonathan Is On The List...

And Next By The Look Of It As Young Harry Arrives At The Kent Farm Talking About A Possible Gas Leak But Martha Is Hip To Harry's Game And Knows That He's Not Their Repairman!

First I Get Chased By A Guy Dressed Like A Clown...

And Now, I Get Chased By A Cable Man, What's Next? A Guy With A William Shatner Mask On His Head?

Grabbing A Machette In The Garage (All He's Missing Now Is The Hockey Mask) Harry Catches Up With Martha Who's In Some Tube Of Some Sort Where She Basically Drowns Harry And Herself In Popcorn Kernels (That's What I'm Guessing It Is)

Racing In As Jonathan Arrives Home, Clark Tells Him That Harry's Trying To Kill Him, Using His X-Ray Vision They Find Martha And Harry's Bodies, Using CPR To Save Martha And Proving That Cassandra Was Wrong...

The Next Day At The Old Folks Home, Lex Pays Cassandra A Visit, Deciding To Become A Believer Because Of Incidents That Have Happened As Of Recent, Taking Lex's Hand We See A Horrible Future Of Lex In Charge Of The White House...

And Thought Trump Was The Worst Thing To Happen To The White House...

And A Horrible Future Full Of Blood And Death...

Cassandra Is So Horrified By This Future It Ends Up Sadly Killing Her...

With Clark And A Nurse Arriving, Clark Realizes What Has Happened: Cassandra Died From Seeing Her Future...

And That's Hourglass And It's One Of The Best Episodes Of Smallville...

While The Story And Characters Are Good It's The Glimpses Into Clark And Lex's Futures That Make This Episode Interesting. The Fact That Clark Might Outlive Everyone He Has Ever Loved Is A Sad Thought And One Idea Done In Many DC Elseworld Stories And The Fact That Lex Might Be Our President Brings About A Dark Future Not Just For Clark But For The Entire DC Universe Either Way I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[marumigamer]

The story you will never know: Chapter 5 - Nine months of freedom

Uncle Zeref inside. Kukuku...

Pairing: Zervis.

First chapter here.

Previous chapter here.

-----------

Nine months. Nine months since Mavis died. Nine months since I stopped Anastascia's time. Nine months training my time magic. The curse appeared a lot of times, of course, but always in forests and similar places, never in towns. I made sure that wouldn't happen. I even teased Ankhseram sometimes. He doesn't like it, and I was enjoying it.

During that time, I lived the life of a wandering magician. I helped people in a lot of places, and they paid me with money, food, clothes, and books. I didn't have most of those books, and I liked to receive them. They were really interesting.

But I really never moved from around Magnolia in that time. I never went too far away. I managed to see Yuri some times, and Makarov thinks on me like some kind of uncle. But I never stayed for a long time. It was dangerous for them. Yuri knew it, but we couldn't explain it to Makarov. He was too little to understand it.

- Precth has been really weird since Mavis died - explained Yuri in my last visit, while making lunch -. He's always in the basement. We think he turned crazy.

- Is there something in that basement? - I asked.

- I don't know. Nobody can enter, besides of him. He says he will tell it to the next master.

- Strange...

I was sitting at the table. Makarov was at my side, drawing something. I looked at the house. It was a very simple house, and nothing changed since my last visit. Except two orange flowers sharing the same colorful pot.

- Yuri?

- Yes?

- Is that the Fire Flower I gave to Mavis?

- It is. Sorry, I had to take it from her grave. Precht decided to do the exams to S-Class wizard in Tenroujima.

- Thank you...

- Why?

- For making me put the flower in Mavis' grave...

Yuri turned when he noticed I was crying. I couldn't be more happier in that moment.

- What's wrong, Zeref? - asked Yuri.

- I only put one seed in that pot. Fire Flowers only grew in pairs from the same seed when they are given to someone, and those two people truly love each other.

- How are you sure that you didn't put two seeds?

- Because they are growing from the same plant.

Yuri looked at the Fire Flower closely. I was right. It was a twin Fire Flower.

- I have to take care of them like it's your child? - joked Yuri. I laughed.

- You don't need to do it. But Fire Flowers live for thousands of years, so take good care of them.

- I will.

Suddenly, I noticed something. The black magic of the Tenrou's jade inside Yuri's body was spreading. That wasn't a good thing.

- Yuri, are you feeling well? - I asked.

- Yes, why? - answered Yuri.

- Tenrou's jade magic is spreading inside you.

- Is that bad?

- Knowing that now is black magic, I'm afraid that it is.

- Do you think I will die?

I didn't let Makarov listen that last part. He was too little to understand it. I covered his ears when I knew where Yuri was going. His voice was sad when he asked that.

- I hate to be the one who tells you but... If the magic countinues spreading through your body... That's what will happen.

- Can you remove it?

- Even if I'm a fairy, I don't have that power. I'm sorry, Yuri.

- How much time do you think I have?

- Four or five years. I'm not sure.

- That's not a lot of time.

- I know.

- What's happening, uncle? - asked Makarov.

- Nothing, Makarov. Don't worry. I need to talk with your father about a very secret thing, can you go to play to the other room? I'll tell you when you can come back.

Makarov nooded, took his drawing and colors, and went to the other room. I made sure he was in the other room before turning to Yuri.

- You have father eyes, Zeref - said Yuri.

- What?

- You were staring at Makarov like he’s your son.

- I like him, that's all.

- No, Zeref. I know what I'm saying.

- My father liked kids. Maybe I have that from him.

- Your father?

- I have a bad memory of him, who makes the curse appear every time I think of him. That's why I never mentioned my family before.

- What kind of memory?

- I don't want to...

- It's okay, you don't have to tell me. It's really that bad?

- Yes. It's from when he died.

- You were there?

- It's even worst. Anastascia made me kill my family. I- Ugh!

The curse was there, wanting to get out. Why now? It wasn't a good moment. I didn't had to say anything about my family. Now, Yuri and Makarov were in danger. Suddenly, the curse slowly returned from where it came from. I didn't know why until I could listen again.

- That song...

- Do you know it? - asked Yuri, seeing my surprised face -. Mavis used to sing it to Rita when she was pregnant.

- Of course I know it. It's the fairies lullaby.

- Really? I never knew where Mavis learned it.

- Probably her parents sang it to her when she was little. After all, the people who where living in Tenroujima were descendants of the fairies.

- What does it tell?

- Who is Anastascia, the dark fairy. How bad she is.

- What a dark lullaby.

- I know. Why did you sing it?

- A feeling.

- It stopped the curse.

- Really? That's good, right?

- Better than you think. Now I can think in a way to stop it temporarily.

- That's really good for you.

- Yuri, listen. You need to find someone who takes care of Makarov before you die.

- Precht will do it. Warrod wants to leave the guild and go somewhere in the mountains since Mavis died. Rita gave birth in the guild because she wanted to raise Makarov in it. That's her wish. I want to respect it.

- You must make Precht learn to take care of him before you die.

- I will. He's not good with kids.

- Can I come back now? - asked Makarov from the other room -. I'm hungry.

With an smile in my face, I went to the other room and carried Makarov. Something new for him, but also new for me. I had a feeling that that time would be the last I saw him and Yuri.

- You want kids, Zeref - said Yuri.

- I can't, and you know why - I answered.

- Still, you want them.

- Even if I had them, they won't be safe with me.

- I know. But your adult self carrying a kid, and with that smile in your face, just tells me the caring father you would be if you could have children. Who said he was hungry?

I didn't left after lunch. I stayed a little more, playing with Makarov. Yuri kept his eyes on us all the time. Probably because I was acting like I was Makarov's father.

- Time to take a nap, Makarov - said Yuri, some hours later.

- I'm not sleepy - answered Makarov.

- Yes, you are - I said, looking at his sleepy face.

- Do you want to put him to bed, Zeref? - asked Yuri.

- Can I?

- Only if you sing that lullaby.

I carried Makarov to his bed, and I covered him with the blanket. Then, I sang the lullaby.

"La maldad más pura,

La maldad más oscura,

Tiene sangre de hada,

Su nombre es Anastascia.

No dejes que te atrape,

No dejes que te engañe,

Porque si lo hace,

Ya no podrás ver ni a papá ni a mamá."

Makarov fell asleep when I finished to sing.

- It wasn't "nombre"? - asked Yuri.

- There's a version with "nombre" and another with "sangre" - I answered -, but the song is the same.

- Who made it?

- Morgana, the first fairy queen. Anastascia's twin sister. She sang it to her children, and soon the other fairies learned it.

- A lullaby for your evil twin? Sounds good.

- I must go. It's late.

- Makarov will be disappointed when he wakes up.

- I know, but I was going to release the curse here. I don't want that to happen again.

- I understand, but I don't know if Makarov will understand it.

- The next time, I'll bring him something. I promise.

- Be careful out there.

- You too. And take good care of Makarov.

- I will.

I left Yuri's house, trying to not be seen by anyone. I always did it. I knew very well what will happen if someone recognizes me, specially Precht. I left Magnolia with anyone knowing I was there.

[alindakb]

Letters to my Parents - Wednesday 14 September 1994 - by Alinda

Wednesday 14 September 1994

Dear mom and dad,

The week after the Quidditch world cup was a bit weird. Draco wrote to me to tell me that Tonks had to go into the Ministry every day and that all kinds of weird rumours were going around about what happened that night. And Rita Seeker, a reporter for the daily prophet has been coming up with all kinds of dirt about the ministry, like that a woman that works there, Bertha Hopkins, has gone missing. Sirius was really worried about it all and wrote a lot of letters and kept mumbling that the signs were bad.

At the end of the week, I met up again with Draco at Diagon Alley to get our school supplies. The day started with Draco’s mother taking us to Madam Malkin’s Robe shop to get dress robes. We need them this year and I didn’t have any, and Draco grew out all of his. I’ve gotten some bottle green once that bring out the colour of my eyes according to Draco. His are black velvet with a high collar. I joked they made him look a little like a vicar, but they do look good on him. And the fabric is so soft. Draco laughed at me when I couldn’t stop petting his new robes while Madam Malkin was fitting them on us.

The rest of the day we spend by picking up our books, making sure our potion ingredients stock was complete, getting new quills and eating ice cream. We had a lot of fun and Draco’s mother was very kind. The only downside was that she would hit our hands every time we linked them together. She said we should not show our love so easily in public, that it could hurt us. Draco later told me that she was afraid it would hurt the Malfoy name, disgrace it if the world would find out that the only Malfoy heir was bent.

We met up with our friends at the train station and got a compartment that would fit all of us. Hermione, Luna and Daphne talked about girl stuff while we analysed the Quidditch game. Blaise, Greg and Draco all agreed that I would be able to do the Wronski Feint even better than Krum. It was horrible weather outside and I’d curled against Draco’s side, his arm was around me while I looked outside once the conversations had winded down. Blaise and Luna had disappeared, probably off somewhere snogging, Hermione and Draco were both reading the standard book of spells, grade 4, Daphne had the Witch Weekly in front of her and Greg just stared out of the window like me. And then Nott and Crabbe decided to ruin our afternoon by showing up and making sick jokes about me and Draco. They talked about entering something and winning fame and money, but none of us knew what they were on about. Nott went on that Draco most really have lost the grace of his father if he didn’t know. This saddened Draco, he tried not to show it, but I know it still hurts him that his father pretends like he doesn’t exist when he’s at home.

At the welcome feast, Hermione and Luna had to part with us to go sit at their own house tables for the rest of the evening. Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean greeted us when they came into the Great Hall, soaked because Peeves had been throwing water balloons in the entrance hall. But their state was better than the first years who looked like they had swum across the lake instead of sailed. The hat sang a song about the founders and then the first years were sorted. I seemed to go on forever and Greg was complaining that he was hungry and that the hat should hurry up.

Dinner was good and we were all in a happy mood until Headmaster Dumbledore gave the direst news of the evening. There will be no Quidditch Cup this year! No flying on brooms and practice twice a week with our team members. We looked at Adrian and Miles and they looked just as shocked as us, unable to believe that we won’t be continuing our winning streak this year. I was looking forward to it, seeing how well Draco would do as our new captain now that Marcus had left.

Headmaster Dumbledore started to explain why when the doors of the Great Hall banged open. A man walked in and we all watched him take his seat at the staff table. His face was unlike any I’d ever seen. He had scars everywhere, his mouth looked like a diagonal gash and a large chunk of his nose was missing. But it was his eyes that scared me the most. One was small, dark and beady. But the other was large, round and a vivid electric blue. It moved around ceaselessly, without blinking, and rolled up, down and from side to side. He was introduced as our new defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Moody. I tell more about him later and why I don’t like him one tiny bit.

Once Professor Moody was seated Headmaster Dumbledore continued to explain why there won’t be a Quidditch Cup this year. It seems that our school is hosting the TriWizard Tournament this year. Students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will join us this year for this tournament. It’s a competition between the three schools that was stopped when the death toll mounted too high. Each school gets one champion to represent them. Don’t worry, I won’t be able to try (not that I want too) or Draco either (who’s still kind of keen on it) because there is an age limitation. You need to be off age to compete. Adrian and Miles both are going to try to get in.

After the feast, we made it upstairs and Draco got into bed with me. Blaise said he was going to find out a way to get in even though he isn’t even seventeen and Draco said he would join him. I fell asleep that night, dreaming of Draco holding up a big cup, being the TriWizard champion, and smiling down at me saying he couldn’t have done it without me.

Post the first morning at Hogwarts was strange. Usually, it’s Draco that gets post. His mom always sends him care packages filled with sweets and cakes. At least she did for the last three years. But on our first day, there was no post for Draco, not even a letter to explain why his mother hadn’t sent him any sweets. But there was post for me, the one than never got any letters. Sirius writes to me often and it’s nice to read about his efforts to further fix up our house. He said Remus has brought him a box filled with old photos from when they went to Hogwarts and he looks forward to showing them to me. He even included a photo of you two smiling at each other as teenagers. I put the photo up on the wall next to my bed, next to the drawing of me and Draco that hangs there.

That morning we had Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. During Herbology I could see that Draco was still upset that his mother hadn’t written to him, so in between our classes, I pulled Draco behind one of the greenhouses and kissed him senseless. It helped put a smile back on his face and I had been wanting to do that ever since we got back at school. I’ve missed Draco during summer break, more than I can admit. Sometimes it feels like I’m incomplete when he’s not around. Is it supposed to feel this intense when you are in love? I don’t think Blaise and Luna are this obsessed with being together all the time as Draco and I. And Hermione wasn’t like this when she was with Ron. Sometimes I’m scared that Draco and I are to close, but then he smiles at me and everything feels right and I can’t help but smile back.

Care of Magical Creatures was, how to call it, I think interesting is the best word. Hagrid has bred Blast-Ended Skrewts. They look like deformed, shell-less lobsters and are horribly pale and slimy-looking. They have no visible heads and legs stick out in very odd places. And the smell is like smelling rotting fish. OH and every now and then, sparks fly out of the end of a skrewt, making it propel forward. We had to feed them that first lesson, which was kind of hard since they didn’t seem to have any mouths. Draco didn’t like them at all, since they could burn, sting and bite all at once. And I had no idea how to make it so that these creatures sounded useful or less scary for him. So I just let him hover behind me while I tried to feed them.

After lunch we had division, and Professor Trelawney didn’t waste any time to predict my oncoming doom. I have again difficult times ahead of me. I’d almost fallen asleep in her class, my head resting on Draco’s shoulder when Professor Trelawney made me pay attention and said I was clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn. Draco laughed next to me, but the professor paid him no attention and went on, saying I was born in midwinter. I corrected her and said I was born in July and by then Draco had to hide behind me to hide his laughing.

That evening during dinner Draco and I got into a fight. Blaise was coming up with all kinds of ways to get passed the age restrictions for the TriWizard tournament and I’m not even sure anymore what happened but it ended with me and Draco shouting at each other. I think I said something nasty about Draco’s parents and he got really upset saying he didn’t want to see me anymore. I yelled back that he didn’t need to and turned around to leave. Blaise later said that Draco was crying by the time I had turned my back and reached out his arm to grab me, to stop me. But before he could reach me there was a loud bang and someone roaring: ‘Oh no you don’t laddie!’. I turned around to see Professor Moody walking towards us, his wand pointing right at a pure white ferret that was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, right where Draco had been standing. Draco was nowhere to be seen. I took me two seconds to realise what had happened. Professor Moody had turned Draco in a ferret.

I screamed at the professor to turn him back, but the professor just asked me if Draco got me. I didn’t understand and stated again that he should turn Draco back to himself. Draco, as a ferret, ran towards me and I knelt down to pick him up, but the professor pointed his wand at Draco again and he flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor and then bounced upward once more. I screamed for the professor to stop, to leave Draco alone, that he didn’t do anything, that it was just a silly fight, that I love him and that Draco didn’t try to attack me. Only the professor didn’t seem to hear me and just made Draco bounce higher and higher. He was squealing in pain and I didn’t know what to do to stop the professor from hurting Draco.

It was Professor McGonagall that stopped him in the end. She came into the hall, took one look at the scene and asked professor Moody if the ferret was a student. When he said yes, she took out her wand and turned Draco back to himself. He fell to the floor, his braided hair all messed up and his face pink and filled with tears. I don’t really know what happened next with the professors, I just hurried towards Draco and took him in my arms and told him I love him and that I was sorry. He said he was sorry too and we kissed briefly. Then Moody appeared next to us and told Draco that he would keep an eye on Draco, that he should tell his father that he’s keeping an eye on his son and that next time he tried to hurt me he won’t get off this easy.

As you can understand, most of the Slytherin and Gryffindor fourth year didn’t like Professor Moody that much after this incident. I even went to Professor Snape to complain about it. He said he would have a word with the headmaster about professor Moody his actions. It was clear that Professor Snape also doesn’t think very highly about Professor Moody. He told me to come to him straight away if the professor would again hurt Draco in any way.

And I’m glad Professor Snape is on our side with this because things only got worse during our first DADA lesson. We made sure we were on time to be able to get a seat at the back of the class. Blaise and Greg took the seats in front of us and Hermione and Daphne were in front of that. Neville and Ron took the seats next to Hermione and Seamus and Dean were in front of them. It was no surprise that the other Slytherin students (Nott, Crabbe, Pansy and Millie) had already taken up the other seats at the back of the class. It was well discussed in the Slytherin common room that Moody had it in for our house. None of us wanted to be up and close to him during lessons.

When Professor Moody came into the classroom he told us to put our books away and started to explain curses to us. Talked about how we needed to see the curses that could be done to us to learn how to defend ourself against them. He asked us if we knew which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law. None of the Slytherins rose their hands, but some of the Gryffindors did. Moody pointed out Ron, asked him if he was Arthur Weasley’s son and smiled at Ron. Ron named the Imperius Curse. Moody said that most student in our class would know about it since a lot of their parents apparently were victim to it. Then he took out a spider and put the curse on it, he made it do funny things at first and most students started to laugh. Until he explained that he now had total control over the spider and that he could make it do terrible things to itself, like jump out of the window or drown itself. And then the trouble really started. He talked about that years back a lot of witches and wizards were being controlled by the Imperius Curse and that this made it impossible for the Ministry to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. He continued on with saying that he knows who’s parents were not under its control, even though they had claimed to be. He walked right up to me and Draco and looked at Draco and said: ‘Most of them should be in Azkaban, but somehow they are still free and respected. Don’t think you will get any freebies in my class. Most of you will fail my class, I’m sure of it. Most of all you, Mr Malfoy. You don’t fool me with, just like your father wasn’t able to fool me.’

After that, he moved on to the second curse, the Cruciatus Curse, which Neville had mentioned. Moody enlarged the next spider and then muttered Crucio. The spider’s legs bent in upon its body, it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. And over time the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently. It was then that Hermione shouted at Moody to stop it. I looked at her and saw she wasn’t looking at the spider but at Neville, who’s hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white. Later Ron told us that Neville’s eyes had been wide and horrified. Moody shook his head and stopped the curse and put that spider away. Moody said that this curse was once very popular too, that Mr Malfoy’s aunt liked performing it and that he hoped that he could teach young Mr Malfoy one day how it feels. I hated the way Moody was picking on Draco, but I didn’t know what to do against it.

And I didn’t really have the strength to do so after the final curse that Moody showed us. The last and worst, Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse, was performed right in front of us. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound. Instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but dead. I just looked at the spider, remembering the green lights in my nightmares, the screams of you mother to plead for my life. I heard that Moody said that I was the only one to ever survive it and Draco took my hand in his, made me unclench my fists and stroked his thumb over my hand. I was aware that everyone had turned around to look at me, but all I could think about was that this is how you died. Had you been unmarked too? Was all you had seen a flash of green light and did you only hear a rush of speeding death before all life was wiped from your bodies?

Later, Blaise let us read over his notes about how Moody had gone on and on about constant vigilance and the Unforgivable Curses. I hadn’t heard anything after the little demonstration of the Avada Kedavra curse. Nobody had really liked the lesson. It wasn’t entertaining at all like the Ravenclaws had said it would be. It had been torture, for me, for Draco and for Neville. Hermione and Ron shielded him when we left the lesson, he still looked pale and upset. We were on our way towards them to ask if he was alright when Moody passed us and heard him speak to Neville in a lower and gentler growl than we’ve heard of him before and told Neville to come up to his office for a cup of tea. And then he turned towards me and asked me if I was alright. I spit at him that I was and turned to leave. Like I would want to have tea with him while he does nothing but talk about Draco like he’s the Dark Lord himself. I really hate that man and wished he never had become our DADA teacher. He’s ruining my favourite subject.

But that wasn’t the most surprising thing that happened that afternoon. Once Moody had taken Neville to his office, Ron and Hermione walked back to the Great Hall together and talked during a rushed dinner. I couldn’t keep my eyes off it, seeing Hermione smile at Ron. But then she hurried off, back to the library that she had been visiting a lot these last couple of days, leaving Ron to just stare at the doors where she had disappeared through.

Later that night, Draco told me why Neville had been so upset and why Moody had mentioned Draco’s aunt. His mother’s oldest sister is in Azkaban for torturing Neville his parents, and her favourite curse to use was the Cruciatus. Draco isn’t sure what happened to Neville’s parents, but we all know that he’s being raised by his grandmother, so it can’t be anything good. Draco told me that his aunt Bella and uncle Rodolphus were loyal followers of the Dark Lord. That they still are if he has to believe the stories his father told him when he was younger.

But enough heavy stuff and talks about dead parents. I need to tell you about Hermione and her obsession with house-elves rights. She has gotten all upset about the house-elves. When she found out that they work without getting paid, or getting sick leave and pensions, she stopped eating for a while. She said it was slave labour. Draco dismissed her at first, said she shouldn’t be so silly and so Muggle-born (I’m so proud that he never slips up anymore or even has to think about it, but just says Muggle-born instead of Mudblood as he used to). I told him that I get why Hermione is upset, that I can see why it might not be fair on the elves that we use them like that. Draco said that they liked it, that it was their place. I throw back at him that I pretended to like it when my aunt and uncle used me as their slave, just to make sure they didn’t find another reason to hate me. That shut Draco up and we had a long talk about how Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia used to treat me. Draco still thinks that is different from the situation with the elves, but he at least doesn’t dis Hermione anymore when she starts with her S.P.E.W. talk.

S.P.E.W. is the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, an organisation Hermione has started this year. She told us all about it during our first joined homework session in the Great Hall on Saturday. She explained to us that Elf enslavement goes back centuries and that the short term aims of the organisation are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. The long term aims are to change the law about non-wand use and getting an elf into the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It cost two sickles to join and until now I think Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna and I are the only members. And Ron only joined because he wants to get back together with Hermione, Neville joined because he’s Ron’s best friend and I joined because Hermione is mine. Only Luna has joined because she thinks it’s a good idea. None of the Slytherins want to join in, saying that he elves like to do their jobs and that they are treated fairly. Hermione is upset about it, but I told her that it’s just that they are used to have elves serve them, that it is how they’ve grown up. I said that maybe over time they would see that they deserve better treatment, but that we have to educate them first.

And as you might understand, that was my biggest mistake of the year. Never tell Hermione she needs to teach people. She’s started to put together a plan to show our friends that house-elves are mistreated and that thinks need to change.

I told Sirius what Hermione was up to and he wrote back to wish her good luck with trying to accomplish the impossible. I also wrote to him about Moody and his mistreatment of Draco. I know Sirius doesn’t really like the fact that Draco and I are together, but he said that I should tell him when Moody goes too far. And that he would write Moody to ask him to tone it down a little, to not think that my friends are the same as their parents. It’s nice to see Sirius look out for me and Draco. I’d never known how good it is to have an adult that will always be on my side, no matter what happens. So thank you for making him my godfather and making sure I’d have someone now that both of you are gone.

I love you and I miss you.

Harry James Potter